Sunnydale: A New Beginning
by Alkaline2k2
Summary: What if Buffy had never been brought back from the dead? Who would guard the Hellmouth? How about the next generation of the Scooby Gang and the new slayer in Sunnydale. *Updated to allow anonymous reviews!*
1. Beginnings

Author's Note: OK, as you all know I don't own Dawn, Xander or any of the other Mutant Enemy characters. This fan fiction takes place after Season Five but ignores all continuity after it.  
  
*****  
  
It was the dream again. More of a nightmare then a dream actually. And it always ended the same. She jumped to save the world. To save the people she loved.  
  
*****  
  
Dawn stared at her reflection in the mirror. She went through her checklist. Hair? Check. Makeup? Check. Clothes? Check. She grabbed the cross that dangled from her mirror and put it around her neck, making sure that it was hidden beneath her shirt. The cross belonged to her sister so she always made sure that she wore it, but it was a little too ghetto for Dawn's style so she kept it hidden under her shirt. It made her feel safe though. It reminded Dawn of all the times that her sister had saved her.  
  
It was three months since Buffy had died saving Dawn's life. Everyday was hard, especially without her mom. But Dawn realized that Buffy was in Heaven now, with her mom. Buffy lived a hard life. She saved the world. A lot. And now Buffy was getting what she deserved after a lifetime of giving everything she had to the world. Dawn knew that she would never truly "get over" the death of her family so close together, but whenever she felt like she couldn't take it she remembered the last words her sister left her with. All Buffy wanted was for Dawn to live in this world, and that's what Dawn was going to do.  
  
"Dawn! Hurry up! You're going to be late for your first day!" Anya called through the apartment. "I've made you a special breakfast. Xander said that is a motherly thing to do!"  
  
Dawn smiled to herself. Buffy had somehow arranged for Dawn to live with Xander and Anya if anything had ever happened to her. She wasn't really sure how all of this came to pass, but she was sure that Willow probably had something to do with it. Dawn was glad to have Xander and Anya.  
  
She walked into the dining room to see that Anya had in fact made Dawn pancakes. Somewhat burnt pancakes, but pancakes nonetheless. Anya and Xander were both sitting at the breakfast table eating before work. This wasn't something that happened a whole lot since Xander tended to leave for work earlier than Anya did. Xander had a very good construction job and he was making a lot of money now. Since Giles left a month ago Anya has taken over the Magic Box.  
  
"Morning Dawnie," Xander said looking up from his breakfast. "All ready for your first day of High School?"  
  
"Yeah," Dawn said as she sat down at the table. "I'm excited." Dawn was really excited. Xander's construction company had built the new high school right over top of the old high school. Dawn was always excited for school, but now that she was going to school over the Hellmouth she was really excited. She knew about all the adventures that Buffy had had there and she was hoping that she would get a chance to have her own. She never said this to anyone though, because she knew they would all worry about her.  
  
"I've packed you a nutritious lunch," Anya said handing Dawn a grocery bag instead of the conventionally small brown paper bag. "All five food groups are properly represented."  
  
"Thanks Anya," Dawn said as she grabbed the lunch form her and was surprised by the weight. Lifting it back up form the table, she added "I'm sure it will be filling."  
  
Xander raised his eyebrows at Dawn. "Are you ready to go?" Xander was going to take Dawn to school since he was going there to work anyway.  
  
"Yeah I just have to wait for Aaron," Dawn said. Dawn had known Aaron O'Malley from her honors classes in school but didn't really start hanging out with him till her moved in with Xander and Anya since he lived two apartments down from them. Over the summer the two became closer friends.  
  
"Hmm," Anya said looking annoyed, "Oh yes we must all cater to Aaron. He can't work for me while he's at school so we must of course drive him there too." Dawn had gotten Aaron a job at the Magic Box over the summer. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.  
  
Just then Aaron did knock on the door. Dawn went over to open it and greeted him. Aaron was slightly taller than Dawn. He had dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He had broad shoulders and his face was most often in a smile. He was wearing a pair of khaki pants and a Reel Big Fish t-shirt.  
  
"Hey what's up?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Nothing much," Aaron said walking into the apartment. "Ever notice that that is the most pointless greeting? A simple hello is more than enough." Aaron turned to Xander and Anya. "Hello."  
  
"Good morning," Anya said cheerily, and then added "bad employee" under her breath.  
  
"So are we already to go?" Xander asked getting out of chair.  
  
*****  
  
"The new high school looks really good," Aaron said to Xander.  
  
"Yeah but we still need to finish some things up," Xander said back. "I wish the school board would have agreed to give up a few more weeks without students."  
  
"Don't we all," Aaron said with a smile.  
  
"It's kind of funny that the same guy that helped to blow up the old school is building the new school," Dawn said as Xander parked his car.  
  
"It's the circle of life," Xander said. They all got out of the car and walked towards the school. "If you guys need a ride home you can stick around for about half an hour after school and I can give you a lift."  
  
"Thanks," Aaron said.  
  
"Thanks Xander," Dawn said as she gave him a hug.  
  
"Have a good first day," Xander told them as she split off to go to the part of the school that his construction crew was working on.  
  
*****  
  
Jordan Clarke hated first days. This was his first time at a new school though, so he expected it to be about a hundred times worse. He sat in the guidance office and studied his schedule. He wished that he would have been able to get his schedule earlier than today, but at the same time he wondered what the point of that would have been. It wasn't like he could compare his schedule with his friends. He just wished that the guidance counselor would hurry up and get to him. It was going to be bad enough starting at a new school and getting the new kid looks, but he didn't want to have to walk in late and get it full force.  
  
Jordan sighed and set down his schedule. He leaned his head back up against the wall and closed his eyes. Everything would be so simple if his parents would have never moved. Jordan had lived in Ohio all of his life. Now he was in Sunnydale California. What kind of a name was Sunnydale anyway? Jordan opened his eyes and looked at into the hall. It happened in a flash. One second there was teenagers everywhere and the next second there was no one except for a swirling ball of green energy. Jordan blinked and everything was back to normal. He looked to where the ball of energy was but all that was there were a boy and girl walking down the hall talking to each other.  
  
The weird thing was that this stuff had been happening ever since Jordan moved to Sunnydale a few days ago. He had always had weird things happen to him though. Ever since he was young he would hear people talking even when they weren't talking and things like that. In that last few days though it had gotten a lot worse. He would see flashes of things. People in trouble. Weird things like monsters and vampires. If this kept up Jordan would have to admit to himself that he was insane.  
  
"Mr. Clarke?" The secretary said looking at Jordan. "Mrs. Hodges will see you know."  
  
Jordan took one last look at the boy and girl in the hall and then entered Mrs. Hodges office.  
  
*****  
  
Gym Class. Dawn always hated gym class. She couldn't believe her unbelievably bad luck. How did she get stuck with gym class first period? Luckily, they wouldn't have to actually start changing for class for about a week. Plus, even when they did have to change it wouldn't be that bad. There were a lot of good looking guys in the class.  
  
"Hey Summers! Think fast!" Dawn heard as she turned her head to see a basketball coming towards her. She reacted quick and caught the ball in front of her. She looked to see where the ball came from. A girl with hair that was so dark that it was almost black which contrasted with the red highlights smiled at Dawn. She was a little bit shorter than Dawn, but most girls in her grade were.  
  
"Nice try Colleen," Dawn said with a smile and tossed her the ball. Colleen Danvers was another person who Dawn got to be better friends with over the summer. All Colleen really thought about was basketball. She noticed how tall Dawn was getting over their 8th grade year and her mission for this summer was to turn her into the new center for the girls' basketball team. Almost everyday Colleen would drag Dawn to her house to play basketball. Dawn was actually getting pretty good.  
  
"Come on," Colleen said, "Let's shoot some hoops. Get some practice for tonight." Colleen was talking about the Freshman Exhibition. Basically, it was a chance for the freshman to socialize while the boys' team played the girls' team. Dawn and Colleen would both be starting.  
  
Dawn was pretty good, but definitely not as good as Colleen. Dawn was fairly certain that Colleen had been playing since she was in the womb. Colleen was taking another practice lay-up when from out of no where Mike Dalton came from behind her, stole the ball, and made his lay-up.  
  
"Try doing that tonight," Colleen said when Mike tossed her the ball back, "and see what happens to you."  
  
Mike just smiled at her. Mike was the kind of guy who was incredibly attractive and knew it.  
  
"We'll just have to see about that," Mike said, and then walked off to where his friends were hanging out on the other side of the gym.  
  
Completely unnoticed by the others, a girl with very pale blonde hair and wearing all black watched Mike the entire time from her vantage point at the top of the bleachers.  
  
*****  
  
Aaron had a study hall first. This was his nightmare first period for him, because it was always so tempting just to go back to sleep. Study hall teachers don't like that though. He took the seat that he usually took in every class if he could. He tried to stay in the middle but still in the back of the room. This way, he could pay attention without having to be too ostentatious about it.  
  
To prove just how much of a nerd he was, Aaron pulled out a book to read before the teacher started class. This book wasn't his though; he just kind of borrowed it from work. An Introduction to the Modern Warlock. Aaron had always been completely fascinated by magick. He always went to the Magic Box when he was younger but never really got up the nerve to buy anything. However, after he had become friends with Dawn and started working at the store, he found that he couldn't resist his curiosity any longer. Living in Sunnydale, you hear stories about magick and demons, but no one ever really believes them. After getting to know Dawn though, and hearing her stories, he wondered if he studied really hard that maybe he could do some of that stuff too.  
  
"Interesting book?" an unfamiliar voice asked from Aaron's right. Aaron set down his book and turned to him. He was a little embarrassed.  
  
"Oh I was just kind of just flipping though it. It was a gift from." Aaron tried to make excuses for the unconventional behavior. The boy smiled.  
  
"Don't worry," he said, "I don't think you're weird or anything. I'm Jordan."  
  
"Hi," Aaron said, "I'm Aaron. Yeah, it's just kind of an interest I have." Aaron was still slightly uncomfortable with talking about it. He was bringing it on himself though, reading the book in class.  
  
"Are you a warlock?" Jordan asked with a slight grin.  
  
"Nah," Aaron said, "but I do work at a magick shop. You're new right?"  
  
"Yep," Jordan said, "I just moved here from Ohio."  
  
"How do you like it so far?" Aaron asked.  
  
"It seems nice," Jordan told him. "It's really different from Ohio."  
  
"Yeah Sunnydale is really different," Aaron laughed. He talked to Jordan for the rest of the first period and tried to get to know him. Having lived in Sunnydale all of his life, Aaron never knew what it was like to be new, but he guessed that it had to be hard. As the bell rang, Aaron decided that he was going to try to help Jordan make some friends.  
  
"Hey," Aaron said, "What are you doing tonight?"  
  
"Umm, other than sitting in my house staring at the wall?" Jordan asked.  
  
"Yeah other than that," Aaron said.  
  
"Nothing," Jordan replied, "Why?"  
  
"Well there's this Freshman Exhibition tonight," Aaron began. "It's the boys' basketball team versus the girls' team. It should be really cool. A lot of people are going to go. My friend is on the girls' team so I'm definitely going to go. If you want you can come with me."  
  
"Yeah that sounds cool," Jordan said. He took out a piece of notebook paper and wrote on it. "This is my number."  
  
Aaron took the paper. "OK cool," he said, "I'll call you later on. See ya."  
  
"Yeah see ya," Jordan said. He gathered his stuff up and watched as Aaron left the room. As he began to walk he suddenly had another flash. This time it was the same girl that Aaron had been walking with earlier, only it was night time and she was face to face with what Jordan could only guess was a vampire. And then there was another flash and as quickly as it had happened it had ended. Jordan tried to shake off the sudden light headed feeling he got and hoped that no one noticed him spacing out.  
  
"If I'm ever going to figure what's going on with me," Jordan thought to himself, "Those two are probably going to be the ones to give me the answers I need."  
  
*****  
  
"So are you all ready for the game?" Xander asked Dawn as she was packing the rest of her stuff into her gym bag in the family room.  
  
"Yeah I think I have everything," Dawn said as she zipped up the bag.  
  
"We made a sign," Anya said as she showed Dawn her sign. It had 'Dawn is far better than the other players' written in red letters.  
  
"Thanks," Dawn said with a smile.  
  
*****  
  
"Wow," Jordan said, "Is the turn out always this big?"  
  
"Pretty much," Aaron said, looking at the fairly packed gym, "sometimes there are better turnouts. A lot of the upper classmen didn't come since it is just freshmen."  
  
"Yeah that makes sense," Jordan said. He scanned the gym trying to look at all the different people. He recognized some but it was mostly just a sea of unfamiliar faces. As his eyes wandered across the gym he caught the eye of a girl wearing black who had very pale blonde hair. As he looked at her she looked back at him. He had the strangest sensation. It wasn't another flash, but it was a feeling.  
  
"Hey Aaron," Jordan said to him after she had looked away, "Who's that?" Jordan pointed to the girl.  
  
"Holly something." Aaron said. "Maybe Nils? Yeah I think that's it. Holly Nils. She's in our grade."  
  
"I take it you don't know her very well," Jordan said to Aaron.  
  
"Nah not really," Aaron said. "She keeps to herself a lot. Is she in one of your classes or something?"  
  
"No," Jordan said, "I was just wondering."  
  
"Wow," Aaron said, "A crush on your first day. You work fast."  
  
"No, that's not it," Jordan said with a chuckle. "I don't know what it is."  
  
"OK sure," Aaron said, "Tell yourself whatever you want."  
  
*****  
  
"Nervous?" Colleen asked as she couldn't stop rocking back and forth or playing with her water bottle.  
  
"Yeah," Dawn confirmed as she tied her shoe. "You?"  
  
"Are you kidding?" Colleen while still rocking back and forth.  
  
"Yeah I didn't think you were," Dawn said with a smile.  
  
"It's just," Colleen began, "Did you see how many people are out there? There weren't that many people for a junior high game if you add up the attendance of every game. It's just a lot of pressure."  
  
"Don't worry," Dawn said, "You're like the best player Sunnydale has had in a long time. You're going to do great."  
  
"Yeah," Colleen said, "and even if I don't I can at least foul Mike."  
  
*****  
  
"It's starting," Aaron said as he watched the players come out of their locker rooms. The boys came running out first and were lead by Mike, their point guard. Of all the players, Mike's name got screamed the loudest. Next came the girls. Aaron screamed Dawn's name loud enough that he hoped she would hear him. She looked like she was really concentrating and wouldn't be able to hear him if he was the only person in the crowd.  
  
Jordan watched all the players as they warmed up. He looked at Dawn and tried to figure out what it was about her, or even Aaron for the matter, that was giving him these flashes. He looked back across the gym at Holly. Aaron said that she kept to herself so it made him wonder why she was there. She seemed to be watching something very closely. He followed her glance to see that she was staring at Mike. This wasn't really weird though because most of the girls were staring at Mike. Jordan looked back over to the girls' side and watched as Dawn talked to Colleen, who Aaron had pointed out to him in lunch. Yet again his vision flashed, but this time it lasted longer.  
  
Dawn was still being grabbed by a vampire, and it looked like she was about to be bitten. Suddenly, from no where, a hand came in and pushed the vampire with incredible strength. Dawn fell to the ground and said, "Oh my God! You're a-"  
  
Just as quickly as it happened the vision ended.  
  
*****  
  
There was only thirty seconds left in the game and the score was tied at 36. Dawn had done very well for her first game and hadn't really left the game at all. She managed to score 4 points. Colleen on the other hand hadn't left the game once. She managed to score 23 points for the team too.  
  
The boys had the ball, and Colleen had Mike. Mike managed to spin past Colleen and score another two points for the boys' team. There was only 18 seconds left and the girls' coach called a timeout.  
  
"OK," she said, "We have one chance. Danvers? I want you to take the shot."  
  
Play resumed. Colleen took the ball down the court and passed to a girl on her left. Mike was playing heavy coverage on her. She looked at the clock. There was only 6 seconds left. Colleen pushed with all her strength and tried to push past Mike towards the basket. She saw the ball passed to her and managed to get it without Mike stealing it. She went up at the same time Mike did. She could feel his weight on her but for some reason it didn't seem like that much weight at all. She knew that he was fouling her but it really wasn't stopping her. She pushed with an amount of strength that didn't even seem like a lot and managed to score despite Mike's foul.  
  
The crowd erupted in cheers. Not just for Colleen's points, but also for the ref calling a foul. Colleen didn't even realize when she won the game by sinking her foul shot. There was only one thing going on her mind at this point.  
  
"What the Hell was that?"  
  
*****  
  
"That was exhilarating!" Anya said. "At no point was I confident that either team would win."  
  
"And that's the point of the close game," Xander said. "Aaron!" Xander caught Aaron out of the corner of his eye. "Hey we have to leave but could you please tell Dawn that she did great tonight and to call us with her plans?"  
  
"Sure," Aaron said, "I'll give her the message."  
  
*****  
  
Everyone had congratulated her, but she didn't really hear any of it. Her mind was somewhere else. She was the slowest to shower and get changed. By the time she was done, the only person who was still in the locker room with her was Dawn, and that was just because she waited for her.  
  
"Hey are you sick or something?" Dawn asked her friend with concern. "You look out of it."  
  
"Sick?" Colleen asked, somewhat considering it, "No. I don't know. I feel good actually."  
  
"Then what's up?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," Colleen said, "Maybe I'm just in shock from beating the boys' team."  
  
"Yeah," Dawn said, "But I don't know why you would be shocked. It was obvious that we were going to win. And did you see the way Mike looked at you at the end of the game? That was priceless."  
  
Colleen smiled slightly and let out a little laugh.  
  
*****  
  
"So what do you guys want to do?" Dawn questioned the group, the group being her, Aaron, Colleen, and Jordan. They were walking down the street from the school with no real destination.  
  
"I think you should get to decide," Aaron said, "this is your victory night."  
  
"Bronze?" Colleen suggested.  
  
"Yeah that sounds cool," Dawn said.  
  
"I could go for a little Bronze action," Aaron added.  
  
"What's a Bronze?" Jordan spoke up for the first time tonight other than 'hello' and 'you were good.'  
  
"It's the dance club," Colleen explained. "It's not the greatest but it's not that bad."  
  
"It's where pretty much everyone hangs out at," Dawn said.  
  
"Dance club?" Jordan questioned, "There was no dancing back home."  
  
"The dance part is just for the girls," Aaron said. "We're there just for the club part."  
  
"So what did you guys do for fun back in Ohio then?" Colleen asked, but Jordan didn't answer. It happened again. Everything just flashed and now he saw a girl who was being attacked by two vampires.  
  
"Over here!" Jordan said as he ran off into the field across the street.  
  
"What?" Dawn said. And then they heard the scream.  
  
*****  
  
"Please," the young woman said as she backed into an old jungle gym "I have money. Just please don't hurt me."  
  
"Oh we're not going to hurt you," the first vampire said.  
  
"No," the other vampire joined in. "We just want to take you out to dinner."  
  
"Yeah," the first vampire said, shifting into his game face, "we just want a little bite."  
  
The young woman screamed as the vampire approached and prepared to bite her neck. He just sunk his teeth in when Jordan, using all of his weight, knocked the vampire off of the woman and onto the ground. The woman looked shocked and backed up against the jungle gym holding her neck.  
  
"Run!" Jordan said as he took his eyes off of the vampire and looked at her. She did as she was told and ran for her life. The vampire who was still standing went after her but he was stopped by the cross that Dawn shoved in his face.  
  
"Jordan!" Colleen screamed as the vampire who Jordan attacked grabbed him from behind.  
  
"Oh you're going to pay for that kid," the vamp said as he prepared to bite his neck. Dawn tried to run over to use her cross trick again but this time the other vampire grabbed her. The vampire who had Jordan decided to let his friend go first.  
  
Colleen watched as the vampire had Dawn and prepared to bite her. That's when suddenly, like a flood gate opening up, the whole night made sense. Everything her mind was trying to cope with suddenly became clear. With speed that was almost inhuman, Colleen grabbed a wooden sign that was in the ground, pushed the vampire who was holding Dawn to the ground, stood over him, and shoved the stake through his chest.  
  
Colleen then turned her attention toward the vampire who was holding Jordan. The vampire decided that he would rather have Colleen than Jordan and threw him to the ground by where Aaron stood. Colleen, to her own surprise, found herself going blow for blow with the vampire and actually winning. She got a punch to the face in followed by another before kicking the vampire in the stomach. The vampire went flying back and Colleen took her stake and before she even really understood what she was doing she dusted the second vamp.  
  
"Oh my God," Dawn said. "You're a slayer."  
  
"Slayer," the last word was said by both Dawn and Jordan. No one knew what to say. Colleen didn't really know what was going on with herself. Jordan was puzzled by his visions coming true. Dawn was startled by Jordan knowing the word slayer. Aaron was alarmed by something else.  
  
"Um guys," Aaron said, "I think that wasn't the end of our problems." The others looked where Aaron was staring and saw six pairs of glowing yellow eyes.  
  
*****  
  
Author's note: OK, I would really like to know what everyone thought of this. Any comments about what you thought of any of the characters would be really appreciated, especially if it has to do with the original characters. Please leave me some feedback because it will encourage my lazy ass to right some more. 


	2. Voices From Beyond

Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.  
  
So you can tell who are supposed to be the main characters, here is a chart. Think of it as the opening credits.  
  
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives premonitions Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box  
  
****  
  
Jordan, Dawn, and Aaron all stood behind Colleen as they watched the half dozen vampires edge closer and closer to them.  
  
"Does anyone have a plan?" Colleen asked.  
  
"You're the one with super powers," Jordan said, "Shouldn't you have a plan?"  
  
"Here's a plan," Aaron said, "Let's run."  
  
"Good plan," Colleen said. "On three.three!" With that all four of them began to run for their lives, but they quickly realized that the vampires were too fast for them.  
  
"Get to the shed!" Dawn shouted as she spotted an old shed in front of them. They ran as fast as they could but the vampires were going to catch up. Colleen, trying to give her friends some more time, turned around kicked the vampire who was right behind her, sending him flying back into two more vampires behind him. She broke off the sign from the stake just in time to sink it into the chest of another vampire who had just come up on her. The other two then came after her, and Colleen wasn't a match for two on one. She tried her best but it was obvious that she wasn't going to last very long. She was about to be punched in the back by one of the vampires when he suddenly exploded into dust. This gave Colleen the opportunity to dust the other vampire. She turned around to see Aaron standing there with the broken handle of a shovel.  
  
"Let's go!" Aaron said as the three vampires that had fallen were getting back to their feet. Colleen and Aaron dove into the shed as Jordan and Dawn slammed the door shut and barricaded it. Everyone took a step back and watched as the door was being pounded on.  
  
"This isn't going to hold out for very long," Jordan pointed out.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Colleen asked.  
  
Dawn and Aaron began trying to break off various wooden tools into useable stakes. Once they had a half dozen they passed them out, giving the most to Colleen.  
  
"Just make sure you hit the heart," Dawn warned. "It won't work unless you hit the heart." Surprisingly, no one really argued. Dawn had known about vampires since she was eleven years old. Aaron had a whole summer to adjust to the knowledge. Dawn assumed that Colleen and Jordan would have a little bit of a hard time adjusting, but for some reason they seemed fine with it. There were so many questions that needed to be answered, but there was no time for it right now.  
  
"This will help too," Aaron said as he handed a cross that he made by tying to pieces of wood together to Jordan.  
  
Just then the door suddenly gave way and the vampires charged in. Aaron tried to help Colleen take on two at one time while Dawn and Jordan worked on the other one. The fight wasn't going that well, even though Colleen managed to dust the first vamp in a few minutes. It really took a turn for the worse when three more vamps entered the shed just as Dawn and Jordan managed to dust their vamp.  
  
Colleen's second vamp managed to punch Aaron so hard that it sent him flying into the other side of the shed. Colleen was left fighting two vampires by herself, while Jordan and Dawn tried to hide behind their crosses from the other two vampires. Colleen managed to get another vampire dusted, but not before she got kicked hard in the jaw by the other vampire. Jordan's cross was the first to be disarmed and he quickly found himself curled over lying against the wall of the shed with blood dripping from his mouth. Dawn was pinned up by one of the vampires, who prepared to bite her.  
  
"Dawn!" Colleen yelled as she tried to get to her friend, but two vampires blocked her way. As the vampires fangs got closer and closer to Dawn's neck, the panic in Dawn's mind stopped her from evening noticing the strange new player who entered the arena.  
  
She was wearing a white wife beater with black leather pants and black boots. Her skin was gold, and her hair was also very bright gold. Her eyes, in contrast to her gold appearance, were bright blue. She grabbed the vampire as he was just about to bite into Dawn and threw him off of her. The gold skinned woman then picked up a stake that was on the ground by her foot, picked it up, and stabbed it hard through the vampire's chest.  
  
Meanwhile, Colleen was fighting against the last two vampires. She noticed the gold skinned woman but didn't really have a chance to process this new information. The other woman joined in on Colleen's fight, and to Colleen's astonishment she was incredibly strong. She was able to lift her vampire over her head and threw her into the vampire Colleen was fighting. Colleen took this opportunity to stake the two vampires, and when she looked up the woman was gone just as quickly as she appeared.  
  
"OK," Colleen said to her friends, "What is going on?"  
  
*****  
  
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Jordan asked as they were standing outside the back door to the Magic Box.  
  
"Yeah it's fine," Dawn reassured him. "This is Anya's store. She's my, um, guardian I guess. And besides, Aaron works here. He has a key."  
  
The four friends walked into the back of the shop and Aaron hit a light that he was hoping wouldn't be seen from the street. Everyone sat around a circular table, but no one really knew what to say.  
  
"So is someone going to explain to me what happened tonight?" Colleen asked.  
  
"Well," Aaron began, "First of all, as you probably guessed, vampires are real." Colleen just stared at him as if to say 'duh.' "Second of all, you apparently are a slayer."  
  
"Slayer?" Colleen asked.  
  
"The Chosen One," Dawn explained. "She in all the world who has the strength and the power to fight the vampires and the demons." There was a pause. "My sister was a slayer."  
  
"Whenever a slayer dies," Aaron filled in the blank, "another slayer is called to take her place. I guess you're taking Dawn's sister's place. Although it's been a couple months." Aaron felt bad saying this because he knew that Dawn really didn't like to talk about her sister's death, even though he knew that she thought about it a lot.  
  
"So I guess the real question here is what your story is," Dawn said to Jordan, trying not to think about Buffy.  
  
"My story?" Jordan repeated. "Well, I don't know how to explain. I mean, I guess this has been going on for a long time, as long as I can remember at least. I've always been able to like hear people talking even when they weren't. And like I will just like know when something is going on, even though I shouldn't. And like sometimes, I'll be thinking that the remote is just so far away, and then the next thing I know it's right there.  
  
I don't know.it just seems like all this stuff has just gotten like more intense sine I moved here. Like all today I was having these weird premonitions of what just happened out there, but these were a lot different from other premonitions I've had. These were like full out experiences that I could see. They were visions."  
  
Just then, Jordan's eyes went into a kind of trance. It was like his body was there, but his mind had just gone somewhere else. The next moment, his eyes went completely white, and he seemed to come back. Only now it seemed like it was Jordan's body, but it wasn't Jordan inside.  
  
"What's going on?" Colleen asked.  
  
"Who are you?" was Aaron's slightly more accurate question. Jordan smiled at him.  
  
"Clever boy," a voice that was slightly different from Jordan's said to Aaron. "I am the herald of The Powers That Be and I am here to deliver you a message through this avatar.  
  
"You, Colleen Danvers, have been called to be the Slayer. However, you will not be like the slayers of old. When The Powers That Be first created the slayer and give her to the Watcher's Council, we never dreamt that she would one day end up in a system as perverted at the current incarnation of the Watcher's Council. That is why we have decided to create a new kind of slayer. One that won't be of the Watcher's council but instead will have a very specific purpose."  
  
"And what is that?" Colleen asked.  
  
"You are to guard the Hellmouth as your predecessor had," the herald continued. "Buffy Summers was a warrior of the people, and she went above and beyond her call of duty. Even when the slayer line passed through her, she continued to fight. That is why we have chosen to continue her legacy through you."  
  
"But if she doesn't have a Watcher, how are we going to know what to do?" Dawn asked.  
  
The herald smiled at Dawn through Jordan's body. "You have learned a lot from your sister. I have been instructed to let you know that both your sister and your mother are in a better place, and that they both love you."  
  
Dawn didn't know how to react to this information, and the herald wasn't really looking for a response.  
  
"You will be instructed in courses of action," the herald continued. "We will be able to assist you through Jordan. Because of his demonic ancestry, Jordan has been chosen to receive The Visions. These visions will alert you of situations that will require your assistance."  
  
"Demonic ancestry?" Aaron questioned.  
  
"It is actually the most common type of demonic ancestry among humans," the herald explained. "One of Jordan's distant ancestors was a Gelaro demon. This ancestry was dormant through out Jordan's family except for him. It allows him certain psychic abilities. It also conditions him to be able to house the visions, as a normal human cannot.  
  
"Beyond the visions, we will also be able to assist you by contacting you directly, as we are doing now. Rest assured though that these situations will not be a common occurrence."  
  
"But why now?" Dawn asked. "Buffy has been gone for months. Why did you just now decide to call another slayer?"  
  
"Because," the herald told them, "there is a new threat coming to Sunnydale who will try to open the Hellmouth, and thereby end the world."  
  
With that, Jordan's eyes returned to normal. Within a few seconds, Jordan got a very confused look upon his face.  
  
"Damnit," Aaron said, "I didn't get a chance to ask about that gold chick."  
  
"That gold chick?" Dawn questioned answers choice of words.  
  
"Hellmouth?" Colleen asked.  
  
"Did I just miss something?" Jordan wondered.  
  
*****  
  
Author's Note: OK, I hope somebody out there has read this. I really want to know what anyone thinks about it. If people like it then I will keep writing, but if no one cares then I will probably end up stopping. But please let me know what you think, especially about my characters. 


	3. Identities Part One: Colleen

Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.  
  
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate  
  
Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives The Visions  
  
Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team  
  
Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box  
  
*****  
  
My name is Colleen Danvers. Happiness to me is a basketball. I have loved basketball since I was seven. I got it from my dad. I'm pretty sure that he had wanted a boy, but he got me instead. It was cool though. We did all the fun stuff though, like go fishing and work on his car. I was never really into any of that stuff, but I did it anyway because I knew it made him happy. There was one interest of his that I loved.  
  
Sports. I love sports almost as much as my dad does. He's the sports editor for the local newspaper. Every Saturday we would sit on the couch together and spend the day watching everything that was on TV. My dad would tell me stories about all the things that he has done in his life. He played Division 2 basketball in college for his first two years, but then got hurt and had to quit. I think that's one of the biggest regrets in his life.  
  
I practice everyday in my driveway. It was October and it was starting to get a little chilly outside. I zipped up my hoody and took another shot. The sun was about to set and my dad wasn't home yet. I was getting a little worried. Everyday my dad and I would shoot around for at least 15 minutes. It gave us a chance to talk because my dad always worried about me, especially after my mom left.  
  
I don't like to think about that a lot. My mom just up and left one day. She just never came home. No note or anything. My dad thought that maybe something happened to her, but I knew better. I could tell how unhappy she was. She was just unhappy being here. I used to think that maybe it was something I did, but I could never believe that. My mother was just an unhappy person and one day she just decided that she had enough.  
  
I looked at my watch. It was almost 8:00. I was starting to get nervous. Dawn was expecting to meet me at the usual spot half an hour ago. But I couldn't just leave without talking to my dad. I haven't done that in .well actually I have never done that. I look forward to my time with my dad as much as he does, maybe even more. Now though, I had important things that I couldn't just shrug off because I wanted to spend time with my dad.  
  
By 8:15 I realized that I had to go. This was going to make it even harder to tell my dad the news that I knew I had to tell him. I knew it was going to crush him, but if I didn't tell him before I did it, it was going to crush him. I had the lies all worked out. I would say that I wanted to concentrate on my schoolwork this year and that maybe I would go back out next year after I adjusted. I guess this conversation would have to wait for another night  
  
I was wrong. Just as I was on my way out of the driver my dad pulled in. He pulled out of the garage and I couldn't help but notice the hurt expression on his face.  
  
"Where are you off to Seed?" My dad asked. Seed was his nickname for me. It's the pronunciation of my initials. C.D.  
  
"I was just going to go down to the library with Dawn," I lied. "We're going to study for a test."  
  
"Don't have any time for a little B-Ball first?" My dad asked. The knot in my stomach decided to triple tie itself.  
  
"Sorry dad," I said. "I'm already late. We can shoot around tomorrow before school if you want."  
  
My dad faked a smile. "Ok. Do you need a ride?"  
  
"No it's OK," I said walking away, "I need to do some running anyway."  
  
*****  
  
"Where have you been?" Dawn asked me. She looked annoyed that I left her waiting in front of the gates of the cemetery. There's something about Dawn that drew me towards her over the summer. Like I knew that she would be good at basketball, but it was more than that. Like there was this feeling deep inside of me that I needed to be there for her.  
  
"Sorry," I told Dawn, "I needed to wait for my dad to get home."  
  
"Here," she said tossing me a stake. "I think tonight is going to be busy. I know I saw some vamps."  
  
This is what Dawn calls patrolling. Some nights we dust a half dozen vamps and some nights we don't get any. I've gone by myself a few times, but usually I have at least Dawn with me. Or some nights it will be Aaron. Or Jordan. Or all four of us.  
  
And then there are the times that Jordan gets visions. He's only had three thus far. One time it was during school and Aaron and I ditched to break up a demon attack at a construction site. That was pretty much my only encounter with a demon that wasn't a vampire.  
  
We've only seen, as Aaron named her, the Gold Chick one other time. It was during another one of Jordan's visions. This time he saw a pack of vampires trying to take over a frat house down on the UC Sunnydale campus. All four of us weren't enough to go up against the vampires and it was looking bad for a little bit. That's when she showed up and helped. We've still never heard her speak though.  
  
"Show time," Dawn said. There were two vamps that were quickly approaching them.  
  
I tensed up a bit. I still had a little bit of trouble when I had to take on two vampires at the same time. I had gotten a lot better at it though. I could handle three at once. Well, I did it once. And they were new vampires. But I was getting better. Gathering my strength, I made contact with the taller vampire on the left first, giving him a punch to the jaw. I quickly turned my attention to the one on the left, giving him a roundhouse kick. He doubled back and held his gut. I ran and gave him a drop kick knocking him to the ground. I pulled out my stake and prepared to shove it through his chest when the other vampire grabbed my wrist and threw flipped me behind him.  
  
"Oomph," I said intelligently as I hit the ground hard and the wind rushed from my lungs. The vampire still standing kicked me hard in the gut again, and I lay on my back looking up at him. I watched as the vampire grinned at me, but then suddenly the grin changed to an expression of shock, and just as quickly he exploded into dust. Dawn stood right behind the dust cloud looking satisfied. That's when I noticed the other vampire standing behind her.  
  
"Duck!" I shouted and Dawn luckily reacted. I did a handspring into a kick and knocked the vampire back onto his back. "You just can't stay up," I told him as I sank my stake into his chest. Turning to Dawn, I said "thanks for the assist."  
  
"No problem," She said as I stood up.  
  
I let out a sigh. "I need to get better at this. I've been at this for like what? A month and a half now? I should be able to take out two vampires no problem. I'm sure your sister could."  
  
"Buffy had Giles though to train her," Dawn said. "You just need more practice."  
  
"It's like," I started, "like I have all this information in my head that I don't know how I got it. Like fighting techniques and stuff that I never learned, but somehow I still know them."  
  
Dawn nodded at me. "Buffy talked about that before. I think Giles said that it was a 'subconscious pool of knowledge that all slayers have.' Like the dreams."  
  
"I just wish that I could just use this information better," I told Dawn. The rest of the night was actually kind of dull. We went to two other cemeteries, but there were no other vampires out.  
  
"So did you tell your dad yet?" Dawn asked me while we were walking home.  
  
"Not yet," I admitted to her.  
  
"You should probably tell him soon," Dawn said. "Conditioning starts next week. I told Xander and Anya today that I decided against joining the team."  
  
"You did what?" I was shocked. "Why did you do that?"  
  
"It wouldn't be fair if I got to play and you didn't," Dawn said. "But who knows, maybe next year we can both go out for the team together."  
  
"I can't believe you're not going out Dawn," I told her. "You were getting so good."  
  
Dawn shook her head. "Nah," she said. "I'm way too uncoordinated. I'm just tall."  
  
*****  
  
"I have an idea," Dawn told me while we were changing for gym.  
  
"And that is?" I asked back while tying my shoes.  
  
"I know someone who can train you," Dawn said. "Meet me at the usual spot at 6:00."  
  
"And I'm thinking that you're not going to tell me anything more about this," I said back to Dawn. "Right?"  
  
"Yep," Dawn said. "It's more fun that way."  
  
We walked out of the locker room together and talked during attendance and while the gym teacher told us what we were doing that day. We had finally finished 'basketball skills' and had finally picked teams. Dawn and I were on the same team since she had managed to be captain and first pick.  
  
"Who are we playing today?" I asked Dawn as we looked at the schedule.  
  
"That would be our team," I heard a voice behind me. It was a voice that gave me this strange feeling in my stomach. Not that feeling of when a vampire was nearby. This was much more natural. Although I would never ever admit that to him.  
  
"Oh great," I said to Mike, "and I thought I was going to get some real competition."  
  
"You say that now," Mike teased, "but wait till we're on the court."  
  
"And what?" I asked him back. "You'll foul me?" Dawn and some of our friends that were around us laughed. Even some of Mike's friends laughed. The thing is that Mike didn't even get embarrassed. He just kept smiling at me with his stupid smile with way too many perfect teeth.  
  
"Maybe I will," Mike said.  
  
*****  
  
We were up by two and we had to change in another minute. There was no better feeling in the world than beating Mike for a second time. He stood at the foul point line idly dribbling while I guarded him. Every time I tried to get the ball though he managed to keep it from me.  
  
"Tell you what Danvers," Mike said to me in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Let's make this more interesting."  
  
More interesting? Than this? Impossible. "How?" I asked him.  
  
"If we win," he said while he continued to smile at me and idly dribble, "you have to go on a date with me."  
  
A date? He was asking me on a date? Every girl in the freshman class wanted to date Mike Dalton. And he was asking me?  
  
"And when we win?" I asked him.  
  
This time he talked in a voice that was only low enough for me to hear, "then you get to go on a date with me." I couldn't help but smile. It killed me to do it, but I broke my hard exterior. Well technically, he broke it.  
  
The worst part was that he took advantage of it. In my momentary lapse of concentration, he dropped back to the three point line and before I could do anything about it he sunk a basket. As the ball bounced off the gym floor, the gym teacher told us that we could change now.  
  
"The Bronze. 9:00 tonight. I'll see you there," Mike said and then left without even giving me a chance to argue.  
  
I stood still for a moment and thought to myself "What just happened here?"  
  
*****  
  
"Mike Dalton?" Aaron asked at lunch time. Dawn just couldn't resist telling everyone about him. Bitch.  
  
"You're such a bitch Dawn," I told her.  
  
She laughed at me. "Oh come on. You know you're excited."  
  
Yeah, I was excited. But what was this? I was Colleen Danvers. I had been labeled a tomboy since Kindergarten when I beat up a boy and made him cry. I was the Slayer for crying out loud! Why should I be excited about a stupid date?  
  
"I can't go anyway," I said taking a bite out of my hamburger. "Patrol remember? I have to make the world safe for Democracy."  
  
"I don't think vampires really care about our Democracy," Aaron said. "At least not as much as our pulses."  
  
"And besides," Jordan threw in pointing at his head, "Visions. I can be our bat signal if need be."  
  
"That doesn't change the fact that I don't want to go," I tried to lie.  
  
Jordan shook his head while pointing to it again. "Psychic too. Remember?"  
  
"Jordan!" I yelled at him. "I can't believe you would read my mind."  
  
"I can't help it," Jordan said, "Especially when you're beaming out your burning feelings of love."  
  
"I am not in love with Mike Dalton!" I yelled a little too loud. Everyone stared at me for a few seconds then laughed and went back to their own conversations.  
  
"Inside voices Colleen," Aaron told me.  
  
"So it's settled," Dawn said. "We're going to the Bronze tonight.  
  
"Whoa whoa whoa," I said. "What's this 'we'?"  
  
*****  
  
"So where are we going?" I asked Dawn as we walked through the cemetery. Luckily today, my dad was home on time. I told him about the basketball team. He handled it well, and by well I mean that he went off the handle. I'm confident though that one day we will once again be on speaking terms.  
  
"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you that," Dawn said. She can be so evil sometimes.  
  
We made our way through the cemetery and ended up at a crypt. Dawn knocked on the door and there was an English voice came from inside saying "come in."  
  
We walked in and there was the most incredible looking man that I had ever seen in my life.  
  
"Colleen this is Spike," Dawn said after she said hi to the man named Spike. "Spike this is Colleen, the Vampire Slayer."  
  
*****  
  
Training with Spike had been interesting to say the least. At first I was terrified because he was a vampire. I could tell by my slayer sense. But Dawn explained to me about Spike and everything he had done for her and that put me a little at ease. A little at ease that is.  
  
Spike and I trained for a good hour and a half. He was impressed by my skills and Dawn filled him in on everything that we learned from The Powers That Be. He even told him what they said about her sister, which seemed to really get to Spike. Spike really didn't seem like he wanted to train me. It was more like he was doing this as a favor for Dawn. When we left he didn't make any appointment to see me again. He did however compliment me on how fast I was progressing.  
  
On the way back to my house we ran into two vamps. I dusted one right of the bat without even having to punch him. The other one just required a quick duck followed by a leg sweep and then a stake right to the heart.  
  
"See," Dawn said while giving me a little gold clap, "You're already doing better."  
  
I stood up and tossed my hair over my shoulder. "I could have done that before. They were new." I paused for a second. "I definitely think that I am improving though."  
  
*****  
  
When I went home with Dawn to change and grab a shower my dad really didn't talk to me besides a quick 'hello.' When I told him I was going to the Bronze all he had to say was "home by eleven." While I was walking out the door though he caved and threw in a "have a good time."  
  
"See it wasn't as bad as you said it was," Dawn said.  
  
"Yeah it is," I told her. "Did you see him giving me any money?"  
  
*****  
  
Sometimes my dad tells me that your high school years are the best years of your life. I usually roll my eyes at him. But tonight, with me in my tight jeans and my t-shirt that doesn't quite meet the top of my jeans and being the envy of every girl in our grade, I couldn't help but be happy.  
  
Mike looked amazing, but that was a given. His hair was perfect. His skin was perfect. His clothes were perfect. He looked like he had just walked off from a magazine shoot for Abercrombie and Fitch. He has this amazing ability to say exactly the right thing to make me smile with the fewest amount of words.  
  
We were dancing to a fast song. That's right, Mike actually was willing to dance. I looked around and I could see Dawn, Jordan and Aaron dancing in a group on the other side of the dance floor. I made eye contact with Dawn and smiled at her and she got a very excited expression on her face and gave me a double thumbs up. Aaron grabbed his chest and got a fake loving expression on his face and Jordan just laughed. I laughed and Mike looked at me and smiled a little more.  
  
"Is it safe to assume that you are having a good time?" Mike asked me.  
  
"Yeah," I said, and then decided that it was my turn to tease. "This is a great song."  
  
This time Mike laughed. "And I hope that you are enjoying the company as well."  
  
I nodded and gave him another smile. "So is the best bet you ever won?" I asked Mike.  
  
"I once won a hundred bucks when I bet against my dad on a boxing match that he didn't know was being rebroadcast." Mike told me with a smile and I laughed for the hundredth time that night. The song we were dancing to ended and a slow song started. Even as a lot of the other people on the dance floor moved off, including Aaron, Dawn and Jordan, I found myself putting my hands on Mike's shoulders as he grabbed me around the waist. He leaned in close to my ear and said "this definitely beats that though."  
  
I pulled in closer to him and couldn't believe my life at this point. I felt like I was dreaming and that there was no way that life could be this good. I knew that someone was going to wake me up any minute. That's when life did wake me up. I opened my eyes just in time to see Aaron walking towards me. The panic was evident on his face.  
  
All I could do was think about how quickly a night could turn around and try to fight against the pressure that was building behind my eyes.  
  
*****  
  
Author's Note: OK, this is part 1 of 4 of Identities. Hopefully, it will give you a better idea of how these characters think and feel. Any feedback would be appreciated. 


	4. Identities Part Two: Jordan

Continuity Note: This story is part 2 of 4.  
  
Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.  
  
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate  
  
Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives The Visions  
  
Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team  
  
Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box  
  
*****  
  
My parents were going to name me Jordan whether I was a boy or a girl. I wish I could say that they liked the name because of a great writer or actor or even because of Michael Jordan. Or that maybe it was because of the river Jordan. But I think they just liked the way the name sounded. And plus they could use it whether I was a boy or a girl.  
  
I remember the day that I realized that I was different. I was six. We were playing a game where my teacher would pick a number and we would take a guess and she would tell us if we need to guess higher or lower. Every single time I would guess the right number on the first time. No one else could, and I couldn't understand why. I couldn't understand how they couldn't just know like I did. I always just sort of thought that everyone could do it.  
  
I remember the way that all the kids looked at me like I was weird. I think most of them were just mad that they weren't getting a chance to guess. I'll never forget the way that my teacher looked at me. It wasn't awe, and it wasn't even that she was disgusted. It was fear. I don't think she understood. And I'll also never forget the thing she said that she never really said. "Freak."  
  
Ever since then I haven't exactly been eager to do make anyone else think that I was a freak. And I did a really good job about it. Even when I would know every answer when I was taking a test I would still try to answer just based off of what I thought the answer was. Sometimes I would even try to miss answers on purpose.  
  
The thing I was most afraid of is one day someone would notice the way things just seemed to happen around me. Like when I would lay and bed and remember that I forgot to shut the door and then suddenly the door would slam shut. Or the way that sometimes things would just fall or move when I was nearby. I knew that if anyone ever saw any of this stuff they wouldn't be able to understand. If I couldn't understand then how were they suppose to understand?  
  
These things were all easy to ignore. Until I moved to Sunnydale that is. Until I was chosen by The Powers That Be to be their "avatar." Until I was chosen to receive The Visions. Now I can't really ignore any of this though. I can't pretend that I'm normal. But you know what? This has been the greatest experience that of my life. I love being able to be who I really am. I love not having to hide anymore. And I love that I know have friends who will accept it.  
  
And friends who will cover for me when I look like a mental patient while receiving a vision.  
  
"Is he having a seizure?" a girl asked when she noticed the way that I seemed to be freaking out.  
  
"No," Aaron said, "He's just kidding around."  
  
"Are you sure?" she asked again. I'm sure she was staring at me but I couldn't see her.  
  
"Yeah," Aaron lied, "He does this all the time." That wasn't really a lie I guess.  
  
"What do you see?" Dawn whispered to me.  
  
There were vampires. There were almost always vampires. They were at a library. They were looking for a book. The Omicron. There was something going on though. The vampire, one in particular. I could feel his name. Martyr. He was powerful. I could feel his power. I could be his evil.  
  
"Jordan, are you alright?" Dawn asked me. There was concern in her eyes. "You're pale."  
  
"I'm fine," I said, although I wasn't sure if that was true or not. "Where's Colleen."  
  
"Aaron's getting her," Dawn told me. This was horrible. I knew how happy Colleen was right now. I could feel how good it made her feel to be with Mike. I wish that I had the power to do this on my own.  
  
Wait.  
  
Why couldn't I do this on my own? I knew that they wouldn't be going for that book till well past midnight. We had a lot of time. All I needed to do was just get that book. Aaron, Dawn, and I could handle that. I was certain.  
  
"What's going on?" Colleen asked. I could tell that she was worried but I could also tell that she was very disappointed about ending her date early.  
  
"There's trouble," I told Colleen. I took a deep breath. I had never been a good liar, but I needed to be right now. "But not till tomorrow."  
  
I could see Colleen shift a little. I could feel the relief, but still there was concern. "Not till tomorrow? But why would you get it tonight?"  
  
I shrugged. "I don't know, but I know that we don't need to worry about it till tomorrow. All we need to do is just get a book."  
  
I could feel suspicion in Aaron. I could feel Dawn's curiosity. I could always tell that Colleen believed me.  
  
"Just a book," Colleen repeated. "We just need to get a book tomorrow?"  
  
"Yeah," I lied again.  
  
"Do you think we should go tonight?" Dawn asked.  
  
I shook my head. "No. We could go do some research though. We could go back to the Magic Box."  
  
Aaron knew that I was keeping something from Colleen. "Yeah that sounds like a good plan. We'll go back to the Magic Box. You can take the night off."  
  
Colleen was trying her hardest not to look too happy. Mike was getting closer, and I could feel that he didn't want tonight to end so soon either.  
  
"Are you guys sure?" Colleen asked.  
  
"Yeah we're sure," I answered for everyone.  
  
"Well call my cell phone if you even think that you might need me," Colleen said just as Mike got to the table.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked Colleen.  
  
"Nothing," Dawn answered for her. "We were just telling her we were leaving."  
  
*****  
  
"Jordan!" Aaron said, "I can't believe you would be this stupid. We have to go back and get her."  
  
Maybe telling them the truth wasn't the best plan I ever had. Especially because Aaron was mad at me. Ever since I moved here Aaron was the first person who made an effort to be my friend. Maybe it was predetermined that I was suppose to be here to help Colleen with her slaying duties, but I was glad that I had Aaron here to be my friend.  
  
"I think we can handle this," Dawn said. There was something about Dawn that I couldn't figure out. I remember the first time I saw her and the only thing that I could see was green energy. I didn't know if I should ask her about that or not. Regardless of the green thing, Dawn was still amazing. She had been through so much in her life and yet she was still so strong. And plus she just stuck up for me.  
  
"All we need to do is find this library, grab the book, and get out," I reassured Aaron. "We have hours to do that too."  
  
"Fine," Aaron said, "We can go and do research and see if we can find the book. But if we don't know where it's at in an hour we are going back and getting Colleen."  
  
"Can't you just like," Dawn tried to think of how she wanted to ask her question, "psychically home in on the book?"  
  
"I don't know," I admitted. I really wasn't sure what I could or couldn't do with my powers. "I don't think I can, but maybe I could try."  
  
*****  
  
"We have ten minutes to figure this out before I call Colleen," Aaron said.  
  
"Are you sure it was the Omicron?" Dawn asked me.  
  
I nodded my head. "Positive."  
  
"Maybe it has another name," Aaron suggested.  
  
I was starting to get frustrated. I was so certain that we could figure this out. I didn't want to ruin Colleen's night, especially after she called us to check in and told us that she was allowed to stay out till 1:00 since Mike's dad told Colleen's dad that he would give her a ride home. I felt so stupid because I couldn't figure this out. I knew that the answer was here somewhere, but I had the feeling that we wouldn't figure it out until time just fizzled out for us. Every second that ticked by was just cutting away at the barrier that was holding back my anger. Finally, with a minute left, I slammed my fist on the table so hard that it scared Aaron and Dawn who were reading their books. At the same time, a book in the middle of the table flew upon and rifled through to a page.  
  
"OK," Aaron said, "That was weird." I agreed.  
  
"Hey!" Dawn said as she looked at what page was open. "This is what we need."  
  
"Wow," Aaron said, "Good thing for your psychic powers."  
  
I nodded. My powers did seem to flare when I lost it. Aaron and I moved closer to Dawn and tried to read over her shoulder. As I read it was like walls in my brain were coming down and I could finally see where the book was.  
  
"Well that was helpful," Aaron said. "And by helpful I mean not helpful in the slightest."  
  
"Fine," Dawn said, "I'll call Colleen."  
  
"No need," I told them. "I know where it's at."  
  
*****  
  
It took us 45 minutes to get to the library two towns over. We took the bus which was fortunately still running. Aaron had to check the internet to see how to get to where I know the book was. While he was on the internet, he did a search for Omicron and the first page that came up was the library that we were going too. I think Aaron is going to feel stupid for a week.  
  
"It's locked," Dawn said as she pulled on the door of the library. The look Aaron gave her screamed duh. He didn't say anything though. He turned to me.  
  
"Any ideas?" he asked. "You know, any intuition?"  
  
"Ummm," I said trying to figure that out. "I don't know. I can try." I tried to relax and just let my mind go. It felt like my being stretched beyond just my body and expanded till it included the library. "Around back," I said opening my eyes, "There's a door that doesn't lock."  
  
Sure enough when we got to the back of the library there was a door that didn't lock right. That doesn't mean that it didn't lock, but it just didn't lock right.  
  
Aaron cracked his knuckles and walked up to the door. "Well I guess it's my time to shine." He reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a small case. Opening it up, we saw that they were lock picks.  
  
"Lock picks?" Dawn questioned. "Since when do you pick locks?"  
  
"Since never," Aaron admitted. "But ever since our lives started taking place in a comic book I've been trying to read up on things on the internet. Luckily lock picking was one of them." It took Aaron three minutes but he did get the door unlocked.  
  
"I'm impressed," Dawn said.  
  
"As you should be," Aaron laughed.  
  
We entered the library through the basement and made our way up to the ground floor. The others weren't expecting the library to be this big, but I had seen it before hand.  
  
"I hope we didn't set off any alarms," Dawn said. I hadn't thought of that.  
  
"Well if we did I guess we're just going to have to find out the hard way," Aaron said as we walked around taking in the library.  
  
"I don't think we did," I suggested. "I think if we would have we would have known."  
  
"Here's the card catalogue," Dawn said walking over to a set of computers. She looked at the blank monitors and around the desk. "I'm not sure how to turn them on."  
  
"Don't bother," I told her. "I know where it's at."  
  
I lead us to a back room on the third floor of the massive library. The Omicron was in there. It had just been purchased from a book dealer in London. It wouldn't have been in the card catalogue anyway. The owner of the library was planning on keeping it for his personal collection.  
  
"Mission accomplished," Aaron said as he grabbed the book and put it in his backpack.  
  
"I can't believe that it was this easy," Dawn said. That's when we heard the main back door of the library smash open, followed by several footsteps coming into the library.  
  
"You just had to say it," Aaron said. "You just weren't going to be happy until you jinxed us."  
  
"Quiet!" Dawn said in a commanding whisper. "We have to find somewhere to hide. That somewhere ended up being in a women's bathroom on the other side of the third floor.  
  
"Jordan," Aaron asked me, "Can you get any insight."  
  
"I'll try," I said as I closed my eyes. I already know that Martyr was here. I felt him the instant he entered the building. I didn't know that he brought with him six other vampires. "There's seven," I said, "But one of them is powerful enough that he should count for a dozen vampires."  
  
"Well that's just great," Aaron said as he unzipped his backpack and took out the weapons that we brought. We each had a cross and a stake. Dawn had some Holy water too.  
  
"Maybe we should just destroy this book?" Aaron suggested.  
  
I shook my head. "No," I said, "I'm certain we shouldn't do that."  
  
My last words couldn't really be heard though because that's when we heard his voice echoing throughout the entire library.  
  
"I don't care how long it takes! I! Want! That! BOOK!" It was Martyr's voice. I knew it.  
  
"Window," Dawn said as she noticed the window. "Look, you can see the rough right under it. We can get out of here."  
  
We tried to get to the window as quickly and quietly as we could. It wasn't helping that we could hear the footsteps of a half dozen vampires who were searching the library looking for us. It was especially not helping when I started thinking about how good vampire hearing was. Aaron pried that window open and helped Dawn out.  
  
"You next," Aaron said to me.  
  
"You have the book," I told him, "You go."  
  
Aaron shrugged and hurried out the window. I was half a step behind him. I was almost completely out when I felt a hand on my ankle.  
  
"What do we have here?" the Vampire asked.  
  
"Jordan!" Dawn said as she undid the cork on her bottle of Holy water. She leaned almost into the window and dumped it onto the vampires face. He screamed for a moment before he exploded into dust. Aaron grabbed me and helped pull me the rest of the way onto the roof. We ran for our lives. I could hear the other vampire in the bathroom calling for the others. We had a good head start but there was no where to go.  
  
"What are we going to do?" I said. I was starting to panic.  
  
"Well first we don't die," Aaron said.  
  
"I guess it would be kind of pointless to call Colleen now," Dawn pointed out.  
  
"Less pointing out the obvious, more running for our lives," Aaron said as we continued running.  
  
"Oh Shit!" Dawn said as we realized we were trap. In front of us there was an apartment building that was attached to the library. On all other sides there was nothing but the open roof of the library.  
  
"And here comes the company," Aaron said as he point out the two vamps that were running for us. I could already see another one coming out of the window.  
  
Dawn grabbed the cross that she wore around her neck and put it in the palm of her hand. She ran towards the closest vampire and hoped that he didn't see it. When she was in range, she pushed her hand out and forced the cross into his flesh. His momentum wouldn't let him stop and all he could do was scream in pain. Feeling Dawn's plan before hand, I ran up in time to shove my stake into his chest before he could recover.  
  
Aaron ran towards the second vampire. His plan though was to dive and try to roll and take out the vampire's leg. It didn't work. The vampire slowed down and kicked Aaron hard in the gut, sending him up and then back down. I ran at her and managed to catch her by surprise and knock her down. I tried to get my stake but she kicked me off of her and sent me flying back too. I landed on my back with my stake far in front of me. I was dazed but I managed to see Aaron run up and stake her before she could get back up. He didn't have time to feel proud of himself, because that's when the other 3 vampires were on their way. We were lucky in the first round, but we weren't going to be able to take on three vampires.  
  
I sensed her a moment before she got there. She moved like liquid metal. Liquid gold. It was the Gold Chick. She kicked one vamp hard and sent him flying. She took the other two vamps on and fought the best she could. She was strong, maybe even stronger than Colleen, but she couldn't fight. She managed to knock the vampires down, and Aaron and Dawn tried staking them each time they fell.  
  
I tried to go over there and help them out. I reached for the stake that was right within my grasp but as I was about to grab it I saw it get kicked away from me. One of the vampires was right on top of me. I panicked because I was still sitting on the ground and backed up a little. The vampire grinned as he slowly approached me. I looked at him and was more scared than I had ever been in my whole life. That's when I felt the stake. Not with my hands, but with my mind. I focused all the fear that I was feeling and used it to send the stake flying into the vampire's heart. I don't know who was more surprised, me or him.  
  
I looked over just as I saw Dawn dust the last vampire. That's when I looked over as I watched him get out of the window. Martyr. Evil. He got to his feet and began to clap.  
  
"Very impressive," he said. His voice was human, more human than most vampires. It was different than when we heard him screaming through the library. He spoke very deliberately. Like every word was written over a century ago.  
  
I watched as the Gold Chick was getting ready to run towards him. "No!" I said as she stopped. "He's too powerful." She didn't argue with me but she didn't approach him either.  
  
"So which one of you has my book," he asked. "Whoever speaks up first won't feel any pain when they die." The Gold Chick made a fist.  
  
"Oh come on," Martyr said, "surely not all of you are stupid."  
  
It came to me just like that. The second that I tried to think of a way out I just realized it. The window directly behind us belonged to a man that was out of town. If we broke into his apartment we would be safe. The vampire wouldn't be able to follow us.  
  
I took off running. I knew I had to do this right. I neared the window and dove through it. I'm sure there was pain, but I couldn't feel it. When I got up I saw that Dawn and Aaron had figured out what I was planning and were on their way. Martyr also realized what our plan was but Gold Chick was on him. She tried to fight him but it was pointless. She tried to punch him with her right hand. He caught it. He tried to punch him with her left hand. He caught it. He pulled his head back and gave her a head butt.  
  
"No!" I yelled as I went to the window after Dawn and Aaron had jumped in. Gold Chick was on the ground. Aaron and Dawn were at either side of me.  
  
"You should have taken my offer when I gave it to you," he said to us as he walked towards Gold Chick. "Now I'll give you one last chance. If you give me the book I won't kill your friend." No one said anything. To prove he was serious he kicked Martyr hard in the gut. She went flying into the air. That's when I took control. I changed her trajectory into the most unnatural arc. She landed right outside the window and we pulled her in as Martyr yelled "NO!" By the time he got to the window it was too late and she was in.  
  
"Leave Martyr," I said to him. I thought he would look surprised by me knowing his name. Instead he seemed to be impressed.  
  
"A psychic," Martyr said. He gave me a grin which froze my spine. "Rest assured psychic, that you will die at the hands of the Order of Lorgun."  
  
"You heard him," Gold Chick said as Dawn helped her to her feet, "Leave. Dawn will come soon."  
  
"I didn't want it to have to be this way," Martyr said as he walked away, "But if this is the way you want it then so be it. It'll be more fun this way anyway."  
  
"You're bleeding," Aaron said in a quiet voice after Martyr was out of sight. I hadn't noticed it but I was cut up by the window. My ear was the worst, but nothing looked like it needed stitches. We moved into the family room of the apartment. We were now faced with the awkwardness of what to say to Gold Chick.  
  
"Thanks for saving us," Dawn said as she offered her a friendly smile.  
  
"You're welcome," Gold Chick said. There was another awkward pause.  
  
"How did you know to come?" Aaron said. "Any of the times? How did you know?"  
  
Gold Chick just stared at Aaron. She obviously didn't want to answer the question and it didn't look like she had any plans to either.  
  
"I'm a hero," she said. "I go where I'm needed. That's all I'm going to tell you."  
  
She wasn't lying either. That was all she said to us. No one slept for the first few hours. Aaron was the first to fall asleep though, followed not too long afterwards by Dawn. The Gold Chick stayed a close distance to the window. She was going to stay on guard till the sun came up. I was lying down on the floor. I was determined to stay up all night. I wanted to see where she went. I felt a connection to her. It was like the same connection that I felt towards the others, but for some reasons it was almost like she belonged with us.  
  
"What is your name?" I asked her. She didn't answer. "I'm Jordan." Silence. "Why don't you want to talk to us? What are you afraid of?" She still didn't answer. "You could fight with us? We could help a lot of people together." She still wasn't saying anything. I sighed and reached into Aaron's backpack and wrote down all of our names and phone numbers. I put the piece of paper down next to her. "Here our numbers." She still wasn't saying anything. "It would be nice if we had a way to get in contact with you. You know, in case we ever need your help."  
  
"If you need me," Gold Chick said, "Then I will be there. Now you should go to sleep."  
  
I gave up. I went over to the floor and tried to pretend that I was going to sleep. Of course by pretending I of course fell asleep. I knew that when we woke up that she wouldn't be there anymore.  
  
I dreamt that night. In my dream we fought Martyr. All five of us were there against him, including Gold Chick. And I couldn't help but feel that I knew Gold Chick more than I realized that I did. I also knew that she knew me more than she would admit. 


	5. Identities Part Three: Dawn

Continuity Note: This story is part 3 of 4.  
  
Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.  
  
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate  
  
Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives The Visions  
  
Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team  
  
Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box  
  
*****  
  
"You didn't even call!" Xander yelled at me.  
  
"I know," I told him, "I just fell asleep. I didn't mean to."  
  
"We were up all night with worry missy," Anya said to me.  
  
"I'm sorry," I said again, "I just didn't think."  
  
"That's right," Anya said shaking her head, "You weren't thinking."  
  
"Dawn," Xander said, "Buffy wanted us to take care of you because she thought that you would be safest with us. She didn't want anything to happen to you. That's why we worry. We just want you to be safe."  
  
I told them everything that they wanted to hear. I told them how I was irresponsible and it will never happen again. I tell them everything but the truth. I tell them everything except for what I've been doing since school started. They wouldn't be able to handle it. They would try to stop me. I can't let them do it. I have to carry on now that Buffy isn't here. I have to fight the evil. I have to be strong like Buffy.  
  
*****  
  
"I can't believe you guys!" Colleen yells at us. It's Saturday and we are at the Magic Box. Anya has taken the day off and leaves Aaron in charge of the store for the eight hours that it will be open today. Aaron's glad that he's here though instead of being grounded at home. His parents flipped out when he never came home last night.  
  
"We thought we could handle it," Jordan said.  
  
"No," Colleen said, "You guys just didn't want to ruin my date. I mean that was nice of you but also incredibly stupid."  
  
"Now you tell us," Aaron said. Colleen glared at him. "Sorry."  
  
"You're just lucky you guys didn't get killed," Colleen told us. Colleen had really adjusted to being the Slayer well. From what Buffy told me it was definitely a better job at adjusting than she had done. Of course, Colleen wasn't like Buffy before Buffy was called. Colleen was never too concerned with things like fashion. She was more into sports and things like that. She was always kind of a tough girl too. The year after I moved to Sunnydale her mom left. I remember thinking how destroyed I would have been, but Colleen dealt with it very well. Of course, I really didn't exist back then.  
  
"I think what we need to do now is work on figuring out why Martyr would want this book," Aaron said while opening the Omicron. I was so glad that I had Aaron as a friend. He was the first person to make me smile after Buffy died. That's kind of the way he is. He's never really happy unless everyone else is happy. He's always trying to be the center of attention. Plus, he reads as much as I do, so we usually have a lot of stuff to talk about.  
  
"Jordan," Colleen said, "Do you know anything else about this Martyr guy? Anything that might tell us what he would be doing. Like do you think he's the guy who wants to open the Hellmouth?"  
  
Jordan shrugged. "I'm not sure. My guess would be probably though. I mean The Powers That Be did give me a lot of information on this guy so I'm guessing he's the one they are worried about."  
  
Sometimes I wonder if Jordan was like this back in Ohio or if Sunnydale gave him a complete personality change. He's never really told us anything about what life was like back there. I don't think he was into being psychic though back then. He's a quiet person and he usually doesn't talk unless he has something important to say. He also seems to be an idealist. He's always trying to look for the best in people. I wonder if being able to know what people are thinking does to that perspective.  
  
"I would have Willow or Tara read this book to see if there were any clues in it but they're studying abroad this semester," I told the others. Thinking about it though, I probably wouldn't tell them any of this. I don't want anyone to worry about me. I wish I could tell them though. I don't want everyone to think of me as just a kid for my entire life.  
  
Aaron flipped through the pages of the book and skimmed through one every so often. "I think I might be able to read through this. Maybe I can figure out why he wants it so bad." A customer walked in and Aaron at first didn't react, but then remembered that he was working and went over to try and help them.  
  
"So how was the big date?" I asked Colleen.  
  
She smiled. "It was very nice," she said.  
  
"How nice," I pried. "Holding hands nice? Long passionate kiss nice? Hot sweaty-"  
  
"Hey!" Colleen said pretending to be offended. "I am a lady and ladies don't discuss such private matters."  
  
"Bullshit," I said. "You have never been a lady."  
  
Colleen laughed. "You're right. But no, there was no kissing or anything that could pass for either hot or sweaty. But it was still very nice."  
  
I could see Jordan smile. I knew that Colleen saying that made him feel justified about risking his life last night.  
  
"So who's up for some patrolling tonight?" Colleen said, obviously changing the subject.  
  
"Why don't you invite Mike to come along," Jordan joked. "Let him check you out in action."  
  
Colleen smiled but I don't think she was too happy with that idea. Actually I think that might have been the first time that Colleen really thought about that. How was she supposed to have a relationship and be the slayer?  
  
"I don't think that would be a great idea," Colleen said,  
  
"Well I'm free to come," I told her.  
  
"Yeah me too," Jordan said. "My parent thought that I came in when they were sleeping and luckily they slept in this morning."  
  
Aaron had just finished ringing up his customer and came back over to the table. "Have fun on your patrol guys. I might be able to go out again in another month or so."  
  
*****  
  
"The things Aaron gets to miss out on," I say as I struggle against the vampire that was on top of me. Jordan ran from behind him and jumped on his back. He tried to jab the stake in his hand the vamps chest but he didn't push it far enough and it just stuck out from his chest. The vampire looked happy, but then I ran over and pushed the stake in the rest of the way. His smile faded as he burst into dust. I offered Jordan a helping hand once he fell onto the ground. We looked over to Colleen just as she was getting done dusting the last of the vampires.  
  
"So what were we talking about?" Colleen said as she dusted herself off and walked over to where Jordan and I were standing.  
  
"We were trying to figure out what the Omicron is for," Jordan said. "Well, more accurately, we were making wild guesses."  
  
"I'm sticking with a ritual to open the Hellmouth," Dawn said. "It's always about opening the Hellmouth.  
  
"Maybe it's some way to get more power," Colleen suggested.  
  
"From what we saw," Jordan said, "He didn't need any more power."  
  
"I don't know about that," Colleen said. "Did you see the way that I handled those two vamps? I bet I could take him no problem."  
  
"Oh really," a familiar voice said from behind us. We turned at the same time. It was Martyr. "Are you sure about that slayer? I mean, I am right calling you the slayer. No other human could be that overconfident."  
  
"Yeah," Colleen said, getting a tighter grip on her stake, "I'm the slayer. And you're the vampire. I think we all know how this is going to end."  
  
"How it's going to end?" Martyr mocked. "Well that's funny, because even I'm not sure about that. Maybe we should ask your psychic sidekick there. I'm guessing it's going to end with me standing on a pile of your corpses, but you know, I'm not 100% sure about the order from top to bottom of the bodies."  
  
Martyr was different somehow from other vampires. First of all, I have never seen him go into gameface. Not once. Even Angel used to go into his gameface when he was fighting.  
  
Colleen went into her fight with Martyr. They were fairly evenly matched, although I could tell that Martyr was stronger than the average vampire. Usually Colleen had a lot more strength than the vampires she fought but Martyr was different. He could go blow for blow with her. They punched and kicked at each other but no one was really winning or losing.  
  
Jordan and I were keeping a safe distance away from the fight. There's nothing more I wanted at that moment than to be able to help in the fight. Even Jordan had powers, but I had nothing. Of course, that's not exactly true. I am the Key.  
  
I am the Key.  
  
It feels so weird to say that. Like sometimes it doesn't feel like it could be real, but it is. Of course, how do I know that I even am the key anymore? The portal was opened and it was closed. Buffy was gone.  
  
Does that mean that I am still the Key?  
  
I have all these memories that are so real. They are all I know. Even memories that I know for a fact took place after I became human cannot be differentiated from the ones that were definitely created by the monks. In all honesty I don't even know what my first real memory is. I have some guesses, but I don't know. Like, when I first discovered the truth, I knew that it couldn't be true. I just knew it. I knew that there had to be some mistake.  
  
But then, everything started making sense. It was just like the last piece of the puzzle. It was my "ah ha!" moment. The truth was discovered, and what did it tell me? That I wasn't real. That everything I knew was a lie. That everything I am was a lie. That my family was a lie.  
  
But then, they didn't think that. As much as I tried to distance myself from them, they never thought that I was a lie. They loved me till they died. I can still feel their love. I always ask myself how it could all be a lie when I can feel it. When they could feel it?  
  
Somehow, I think that there's more to this. I think maybe there is something that nobody knows. Like shouldn't there be something more to this whole key thing? Shouldn't I have some kind of power? Shouldn't I have some kind of knowledge of all the time before I was human?  
  
Am I even really human? What if one day the spell that made me would just end? What would happen to me then? Would I even still realize that I exist? Would I even realize what existence is?  
  
I just wish I could fill in all the blanks. Get all the answers. It's just so hard to live like this. So hard to keep going when I am unsure of so many fundamental parts of my life. But that goes back to what Buffy told me before she died. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. I have to be brave. I have to live.  
  
"Trust me slayer," Martyr said form the ground while looking up at Colleen, which broke me out of my daze, "You haven't seen the last of me. And I'm going to get that book back."  
  
"And you're going to end the world," Colleen said. "I've heard it all before. Well, actually I haven't, but I'm sure I will." With that he was off. "I'd say lets go after him, but I think my body might fall apart." Colleen managed to limp over to us and we walked slowly out of the graveyard. "Now I see what all the fuss is about."  
  
*****  
  
"I have to be strong," I thought to myself. "I have to be brave." I walked into the family room where Xander and Anya were sitting. "Xander? Anya?" I said outloud, "I have some stuff I have to tell you guys." 


	6. Identities Part Four: Aaron

Continuity Note: This story is part 4 of 4.  
  
Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.  
  
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate  
  
Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives The Visions  
  
Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team  
  
Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box  
  
*****  
  
One day left. That's it. One more day and I will no longer be grounded. I have been grounded for four weeks. And for what? For not coming home one night? If this was TV then I could have easily gotten away with it with some lame one-liner. But oh no, I'm not that fortunate. My life doesn't get to be TV. Well, in most ways it doesn't. Actually, it some ways it doesn't. In most ways my life is a comic book, and I play the comic relief.  
  
Did I mention that my name is Aaron O'Malley?  
  
It's Friday night and what am I doing? I'm reading a book. Not only am I reading a book but I have several other books scattered around the book I'm reading. I have dictionaries to help me translate foreign languages, various magick reference books, and of course my notebook. I have filled up about forty pages of notes. And doodles. Got to keep it interesting.  
  
I flipped through my notebook and look at all the information that I have pulled from it. It almost made it seem like I haven't wasted the last three weeks of my life.  
  
Almost.  
  
I have cracked the mystery of the Omicron. Good for me. I wish someone would give me a cookie for my achievements. Now all I have to do is get on the internet to do a little bit more research. I flip through my notebook to the page where I made all the references to the alignment of the stars and the planets. I have put a huge asterisk at the top of the page so I would be able to find it easily. I know that this page is going to crack the whole thing wide open.  
  
I log onto the internet. AIM opens up and the only person online is Dawn. I message her and wait for a response. I don't exactly plan on getting when because she has been idle for the last hour and a half. She probably just went to bed and forgot to set herself as away. Oh well, there's only one more day left anyway.  
  
I find a site that has the information that I need. I make sure that I triple check my work. Of course this means that I get three completely different answers. I run through the information about ten times. Times seven and on have all given me the same answer, but it's not the answer that I'm looking for. I do it another six times just to make sure, and I'm finally willing to accept my answers.  
  
"Great," I say to myself, "The world is going to end in a month." I pause hoping that someone might pop out of nowhere and correct me. Nothing happens. "Ooo.Conan's on."  
  
*****  
  
"December 21st?" Colleen questioned. "Are you sure?"  
  
"I checked it myself," I told her, "And then I checked myself about ten more times."  
  
I have known about vampires and stuff for about four months now. Dawn told me all about it in the summer. When she told me about her sister and slayers and stuff like that, I should have realized who the perfect slayer candidate would be. Colleen Danvers just screams slayer. First of all, she could throw down with any guy there is, super strength or not. She beat me up in Kindergarten once, but I don't think she remembers that. Then there's the fact that she won't lose. She just won't. I've played basketball against her and believe me, the world is a very safe place to live in with her as the guardian.  
  
"So what should we do?" Dawn asked. "Did you find anything out about how to stop it in the Omicron?"  
  
I nodded. "Yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea how we can stop it."  
  
When Dawn first moved to Sunnydale in fourth grade I had a huge crush on her. To let her know about it I punched her on the arm in recess and then ran away. For some reason she never responded to my obvious show of affection. She was in all of my advanced classes in seventh and eighth grade. We were always "school friends" but never anything more that that. We would hang out in school but now outside. That changed over the summer when she became my neighbor. Now we hang out all the time. And she's so incredible in a way that it's hard to explain. Like, she loses everything and she still goes on. I remember hearing rumors that she was into cutting herself last year, but I definitely know that there is no way that could be true. Dawn just has it together.  
  
"And that is?" Colleen asked me. Oh whoops, I guess I kind of zoned out there for a second.  
  
"There's a spell that can be done," I told them. "It's a ritual really. I'm positive that I can do it. It doesn't look very hard at all. And I've been reading up on magick a lot since I've been working here. It helps to make the time go faster. If I can perform the spell on the equinox then Martyr shouldn't be able to open the Hellmouth."  
  
"Could he even open the Hellmouth if he doesn't have the book?" Jordan asked.  
  
"Well," I said. Huh, I hadn't thought of that. "I guess that would work too."  
  
Jordan was another person who I had become friends with very fast. I can relate to him really easily I guess. And it's go to have a guy friend to be close with. If everyone sees you just hanging out with a girl all the time it tends to look kind of weird. Jordan's cool because I can joke around with him and he'll actually laugh at my jokes. And he's really easy going to which is cool because for the most part I'm pretty easy going. It's just cool to have someone to hang out and play videogames with.  
  
"But you're sure that that's what the Omicron deals with," Colleen asked me. "This is what Martyr needs to open the Hellmouth."  
  
"Yeah," I told her, "I'm positive. I can point out the specific pages if you want."  
  
"Woah," Jordan said as he stood up suddenly, "vision time."  
  
"Great timing," Colleen said as she stood up off my bedroom floor and cracked her knuckles. "What's going on? Is it Martyr?"  
  
"Yeah," Jordan said. He looked tensed. I think out of all of us that Jordan has the strongest feelings regarding Martyr. "The Bronze. He wants the book."  
  
*****  
  
"I wouldn't say that we're useless," Dawn said as she tossed the tennis ball back at me. "We definitely provide a certain dynamic to the group."  
  
"How so," I said as I threw her the tennis ball again. We were in my room. Colleen and Jordan had gone home because we agreed to meet up again at 7:00 to go to the Bronze. Dawn was here because if I'm not at Dawn's she's usually here. "Colleen is the slayer. Jordan is psychic. What can we do?"  
  
"Well," Dawn thought for a moment, "you picked that lock."  
  
"Nice try," I said. "You at least have all the experience in all this stuff. You're slightly less worthless than I am."  
  
"Wow thanks," Dawn said with a smile. "You know you're not worthless. You completely decrypted the Omicron."  
  
"It took me a month," I told her as we continued to play catch. "Anyone could have done it in a month."  
  
"I don't know about that," Dawn said. "Plus you know the most about magick and stuff like that. You do work at the Magic Box."  
  
"Yeah that's come in handy so many times," I said sarcastically. "Seriously though, Gold Chick has done more for the group than I have."  
  
"Do you ever wonder what's up with her?" Dawn asked. "Like how does she always know where to find us?"  
  
"Yeah and how does she get around town," I said. "She has to stick out, what with the gold skin and all. Maybe she can teleport."  
  
"Maybe," Dawn said. "She does just seem to pop in and out."  
  
I caught the ball and didn't throw it back. I let there be silence for a little bit. "Are you nervous for tonight?" I asked Dawn.  
  
She hesitated. "A little," she admitted. "Not that much though. You should have seen the way that Colleen handled Martyr. It was impressive."  
  
"Yeah but Jordan said that there were going to be other vampires there too," I told her. "I just wish we could have backup. Like I wish we could get a hold of Gold Chick or something."  
  
We threw the ball some more without talking for a while.  
  
"Are you going to tell Xander and Anya about tonight," I asked Dawn. She had been afraid to tell them about the fact that we are now fighting demons. That we are the new "Scooby Gang" as Dawn sometimes said. Needless to say they were not happy with the news. I think now that they somewhat accept, but they don't like it. I don't think Dawn says anything to them about it.  
  
"Probably not," Dawn said, "I don't want them to worry about me."  
  
We threw the ball some more.  
  
"If they ever make a movie about us, I hope they get Ryan Phillippe to play me," I said to Dawn. She laughed.  
  
*****  
  
"What are all these people going to think?" I asked the others while we waited nervously at the Bronze. "I mean, the walking dead are going to enter at any second."  
  
"They'll freak and later tell themselves that nothing happened," Dawn said to me.  
  
"I don't think that's possible," Jordan said.  
  
"Oh believe me it is," Dawn said. "They'll have themselves convinced it was some gang on PCP."  
  
"I wish they would just get here already," Colleen said. "Why can't vampires be a little more Mike?"  
  
"Mike?" I repeated, not understanding. I looked behind me. Mike was standing right there. "Oh Mike."  
  
"Hey," Mike said. "What are you guys up to?"  
  
"Just hanging out," Colleen took over the whole talking to Mike responsibilities. "You?"  
  
"Well," Mike said, "I was in the process of asking you to dance."  
  
Colleen's eyes budged out. On one hand she could dance with her guy. On the other hand she got get him to leave so his chance of dieing would be significantly decreased.  
  
"We were just getting ready to leave actually," Colleen said, rather lamely I might add. "You should get going too. This place is so boring tonight."  
  
"Well that depends," Mike said, "On where you're going." Oh this was a fun little circle we were running around. Mike smiled again. "I think you're just trying to get out of that dance." He walked around the table and took Colleen by the hand. "Well that's not going to happen."  
  
Colleen looked panic. Dawn gave her a little pushed and mouthed the words "just go." Colleen gave in and went with Mike onto the dance floor.  
  
"Well this is great," I said. "This whole establishment is in mortal danger and what is the chosen protector of the world doing? She's dancing."  
  
"Come on Aaron," Dawn said. "We were going to be waiting either way. What difference does it make if we're waiting sitting down or waiting on the dance floor?" Good logic I guess. "So why don't we go dance?"  
  
Wait, did she just say we. Is that we as in "why don't the three of us go out there and have a grand old time as friends or was that we as in "why don't Aaron and Dawn go out there had possibly explore the realm of more than friendship?" Did Dawn think of me that way? Did I think of Dawn that way? Or maybe it was more like "why don't Aaron and Dawn go out there and dance like nothing more than friends because-"  
  
"Isn't that Holly?" Jordan asked.  
  
"Huh?" was the only thing I could say.  
  
"Over there," he said. "Isn't that Holly Nils?"  
  
"Yeah," Dawn answered. "I didn't think she did stuff like this."  
  
I looked over at Holly and for a second it looked like she might have been looking over at us, but then she wasn't because every head in the Bronze had turned their attention to the doors that had just been kicked in.  
  
"Showtime," Dawn said as she opened up the bag that we had brought in. We each grabbed stakes and a cross. I saw Colleen coming towards us and I threw her a stake. The plan was to wait to see what the vampires' move was going to be. We didn't have to wait long. Martyr moved to the stage and go on. The band that was playing quickly got off of the stage. Martyr picked up a girl who was running in front of him. She screamed as he picked her up.  
  
"You," he said to the girl. "Don't scream. Tonight is your lucky night. You get to live. You get to go and find the slayer and tell her that all the people who died here tonight are just the beginning. And there isn't going to be an ending until I get my book. You got that?" The girl didn't react. Martyr shifted into gameface to motivate her. That got a reaction.  
  
"OKOKOK!" The girl screamed. "Just let me go."  
  
"That isn't going to be necessary," Colleen said as she approached the stage and jumped onto it. "I'm right here."  
  
Martyr smiled. "How fortunate. Did you by chance bring my book?"  
  
"We both know that I'm never going to give you that book," Colleen told him.  
  
Martyr frowned. "Wrong answer slayer." And then they started fighting which was quickly followed up by all Hell breaking loose.  
  
Other than Martyr there were about seven other vampires. It was our job to try our best to keep them from hurting anybody while Colleen fought Martyr. It seemed like a good plan on paper. In practice? Not that great. "Jordan behind you!" Dawn shouted as she stuck a cross in the face of a vampire who was about to bite a girl. Jordan didn't even look and gave the vampire a telekinetic shove. I think his goal was to push the vampire over the bar but the only thing that happened was that the vampire lost his balance a little. Jordan did manage to capitalize on the situation and stake the vampire.  
  
So far we were winning. No one was dead and there were vampires being staked. I saw a vampire who looked like he was causing some trouble by the pool tables by where I was standing. I reached over, grabbed a pool stick, broke it in half, and decided to use it as my weapon. The plan was to just sneak up on the vamp and shove the stick through his back. Again good on paper but not in practice. I missed the heart and within seconds the vampire had me on my back. Right before his fangs were about to sink into my neck I saw a gold hang wrap around his neck.  
  
The Gold Chick lifted the vampire off of me and held him so his feat dangled above the floor. I stood up, grabbed my stake, and shoved it through his chest saying "Yeah. You're just lucky that she showed up because I would have made it so much worse." After he was dust I looked into Gold Chick's eyes and mouthed a very grateful "thank you." Gold Chick actually smiled.  
  
With Gold Chick now helping out the fight was a little more even. I still tried to help out but I wasn't much use against a vampire. That is until I saw one grab Dawn by the neck. Gold Chick was trying to eliminate the vampires as quickly as possible and Colleen was still trading blows with Martyr. I looked around me and couldn't find a stake. I did however see a large knife that was lying and the bar. I grabbed the knife, ran for Dawn's vampire, and managed to tackle. Trying not to think about it I pressed the knife on the vamp's throat and pushed my full weight on it till I felt the knife hit the floor.  
  
"That was creepy feeling," I said to Dawn as I stood up.  
  
"Yeah," Dawn said. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem," I told her. We looked around the room. Gold Chick had pretty much gotten rid of all the vampires and was now on stage with Colleen. Martyr was definitely not stupid and realized that he had no chance against the two of them. Before they could catch him, Martyr was out the back door.  
  
"Thanks for the help," Colleen said to Gold Chick. All Gold Chick did was nod and then just turned to leave.  
  
"Hey wait up!" Jordan said trying to catch up to Gold Chick. "I don't get why you don't want to work with us. Why could you possibly not want that?"  
  
Gold Chick looked kind of sad. "You wouldn't want me with you. I would only hurt you." And with that Gold Chick left the Bronze.  
  
The four of us regrouped and walked out of the Bronze with pretty much everyone else. In the craziness of the evening no one really got to pay attention to Colleen or the rest of us for that matter. Colleen was especially thankful that Mike didn't notice what she did. He ran into us on our walk back home and said how worried he had been about Colleen. He asked her if he could walk her home, and Colleen left us with just a "see you guys later."  
  
"I can't believe she's just going to leave us alone," I said. "I mean, what if there are more vampires."  
  
"Are you jealous or something?" Dawn asked me.  
  
"No," I said, being completely honest. "I just don't want Mike getting all Yoko with our group."  
  
"I wonder what she meant by 'I would only hurt you?'" Jordan wondered out loud. "I mean, I wonder what kind of demon she is. Do you think she is a demon?"  
  
Dawn shrugged. "I've never seen a demon like her."  
  
"We could do some research if you want," I told Jordan. "I have to work tomorrow. Do you want to sleep over and go in with me tomorrow morning?"  
  
"Yeah," Jordan said. "I'll call my parents from your place."  
  
"So we did well tonight," Dawn said. "I mean, no one died, so we did our job. And it was us too. Well, us and Gold Chick. But still we did good."  
  
"Yeah," I said to Dawn, "We did good." I knew that I did do well that night, but then and there I decided that I was going to find some way that I could help more. I was going to find some way that I wouldn't have to be rescued by Gold Chick or anyone else if there was a vampire who was pinning me to the ground. I wasn't going to be worthless.  
  
*****  
  
Author's Note: Thank you very much for the people who reviewed my story. I really appreciate it. I'm really interested in seeing what people think now. Hopefully everyone has a little more insight on the characters and any comments would really be appreciated. 


	7. Turning Point

Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.  
  
Colleen: The new slayer  
  
Jordan: Psychic and receives The Visions  
  
Dawn: Buffy's little sister and The Key  
  
Aaron: Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box  
  
*****  
  
"One more week," Dawn said as her and Aaron walked together on their way to school.  
  
"Are you talking about days till Christmas break or days till the end of the world?" Aaron said back with a smile.  
  
Dawn thought for a moment. "I guess both but I meant the end of the world."  
  
"You have to try to focus on the positive," Aaron said back. "Sure there is a possibility that the world is going to end in seven days. But at the same time, Christmas break starts."  
  
Dawn laughed. "So where have you been keeping the Omicron?"  
  
Aaron patted his backpack. "I've been keeping it with me twenty-four hours a day."  
  
"Are you sure that's safe?" Dawn asked him. "I mean if you just left it at your place then the vampires wouldn't be able to get in and steal it?"  
  
"Yeah but what if they get like demons or something to come for it?" Aaron asked back. "I think it's better that I just have it with me at all times, you know? Like if someone came after it I would be able to fight them off with my amazing wit."  
  
"Oh God," Dawn said with another laugh, "Here comes another worthless speech."  
  
"Am I that predictable?" Aaron said with a smile.  
  
*****  
  
"So have you trained with Spike at all lately?" Dawn asked Colleen as she served the Ping-Pong ball.  
  
"A couple times," Colleen said, returning the ball. "They were all random though. Like I'll be out patrolling and he'll just happen to see me and come along. He gives me some pointers and stuff."  
  
"That's good," Dawn said as Colleen hit the ball so hard that it broke on the table. "Hey! No slayer strength. That's cheating."  
  
Colleen laughed as Dawn got another ball. "I think he's going to leave Sunnydale," Colleen told Dawn.  
  
Dawn nodded. She looked kind of sad. "Yeah he told me about it last time I talked to him."  
  
"He said something about L.A." Colleen said.  
  
"Yeah," Dawn told her. "He knows some people out there. Demon fighters."  
  
"I win," Colleen said as she scored her last point.  
  
"By cheating," Dawn said.  
  
"I didn't cheat," Colleen started, but then added "Much. I'm sorry; I can't help it some times."  
  
"It's OK," Dawn said as she looked around the gym. "Hey look. Mike is looking for a partner. Why don't you go play against him?"  
  
"Are you sure," Colleen said looking excited. "I mean, can you find another partner?"  
  
"Yeah," Dawn reassured her. "Go ahead. I'll find someone who won't cheat."  
  
Dawn watched has Colleen walked over towards Mike. Mike smiled at Colleen and they started talking. It made Dawn happy to see her friend that happy. She now had the daunting task of finding a new Ping-Pong partner. She looked around the gym and everyone was already paired up. The only person who didn't have a partner was Holly Nils, who sat on the bleachers reading a book. Dawn, being the people person that she was, decided to walk right over and ask her if she wanted to play.  
  
"Hey," Dawn said trying to give her most inviting smile. "Do you want to play me in Ping-Pong? My partner just left me because I was doing so badly."  
  
Dawn really hadn't ever spoken to Holly since she moved to Sunnydale. She was a very quiet girl. She wore black almost ever single day. Her hair was very pale blonde and when she would walk in the halls she would look at the ground.  
  
"No thanks," she said quietly. "But thank you very much for the offer. I'm not good at Ping-Pong anyway."  
  
"No one is very good at Ping-Pong," Dawn said. Holly smiled a little. "Come on, please play? There isn't anyone else I can play with."  
  
Holly sighed and set down her book. "OK," she said. "But I'm telling you I'm really not good."  
  
Dawn took Holly over to her table and gave her a paddle. Holly was better than she said she was. Dawn at first tried to go easy on her but before long she found herself having to go all out to keep up with her. At first they weren't really talking, but before long they were having a conversation.  
  
"So are her and Mike like," Holly thought for a moment, "Together?" Dawn had just been talking about Colleen and how she had gone over to play with Mike.  
  
"I'm not sure," Dawn said. "They've gone out on dates together, but they aren't like boyfriend and girlfriend. They definitely like each other though." Dawn wasn't positive, but it looked like Holly might have been a little hurt. Of course, Dawn really didn't know Holly that well so she could have been wrong. Just then, Holly's eyes seemed to go somewhere else and she touched her head.  
  
"What's wrong?" Dawn asked.  
  
"It's nothing," Holly said as she set down her paddle. "It's just a headache. Hey the bell's about to ring." Holly started walking towards the locker room quickly. "Good game," she called back as she entered the locker room.  
  
"Yeah," Dawn said. She couldn't figure it out but she knew that something was going on.  
  
*****  
  
"Why are you still reading that thing?" Jordan asked Aaron. "I thought you got all the information out of it that you needed?"  
  
Aaron looked up from the Omicron. "Yeah but I'm just trying to make sure that I didn't miss anything, you know. Like I don't want the world to end because I didn't do enough research. And besides, this stuff is actually pretty interesting."  
  
"Have you ever tried to do any magick?" Jordan asked. "Like when you were bored at work or anything?"  
  
"A couple times," Aaron said, "But never any serious spells or anything. Just like magickal artifacts that are lying around."  
  
"Maybe you should practice sometime," Jordan said. "In case you ever need to do that spell to stop the Hellmouth from opening?"  
  
"I've read up on a lot of this stuff though," Aaron said. "I think that I can handle it."  
  
"Well if you say so," Jordan said but then stopped when he was suddenly hit with a vision. "Vision," he said quickly. That's when he saw Martyr with some vampires. There was also a demon with them that Jordan couldn't place. He didn't get any information about them. They were coming up through tunnels. From the tunnels they entered a basement, and from the basement they went into-"  
  
"What is it?" Aaron said reading the concerned look on Jordan's face.  
  
"Trouble," Jordan said. He was getting pale. "Big trouble."  
  
"What?" Aaron asked, getting impatient.  
  
"Martyr," Jordan said. "He's coming for the book again."  
  
"So what else is new?" Aaron tried to joke.  
  
Jordan shook his head. "He's coming to the school." Aaron's eyes were wide with horror. "And they are coming now."  
  
*****  
  
"I really don't know what's going on between us," Colleen told Dawn as they walked from the gym to their lockers. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that he likes me."  
  
"And it's completely obvious that you like him," Dawn said.  
  
Colleen blushed. "I hope it's that obvious to him too."  
  
"It's obvious to a blind person," Dawn said.  
  
Colleen laughed. "Would it be wrong if I asked Jordan to try to read him for me? You know, just to see if he does like me."  
  
"Probably," Dawn said, "But you could ask him yourself." Dawn pointed down the hall to where Aaron and Jordan were walking towards them. It took them a while to realize the importance that they walked with, and they didn't notice the looks on their faces till they were right in front of them.  
  
"What's going on?" Colleen asked. "Vision?"  
  
Jordan nodded. "Yeah, and at the last possible moment. Right now Martyr is making his way through some tunnels into the basement of the school. They're coming for the Omicron."  
  
"Oh my God," Colleen said. "Aaron, where's the book? Is it at your house."  
  
Aaron looked a little guilty. "In a way yes. But in a more honest way, it's in my backpack."  
  
"Oh this is so not good," Colleen said. "We need a plan."  
  
"I'll go hide with the book," Aaron suggested. "Wait, did that sound why to cowardly?"  
  
"No that's a good plan," Colleen said. "I'll go see if I can find them. I have some stakes in my locker. Jordan, you come with me. Dawn, you go with Aaron."  
  
"Come on," Dawn said as she grabbed Aaron by the arm. "I know the perfect place."  
  
*****  
  
"You wouldn't happen to have a sword or anything in here?" Jordan asked Colleen as she entered the combination into her locked. The bell was about to ring and all of the students in the hall were getting ready to go to their classes.  
  
"No," Colleen said as she grabbed a couple stakes out of her locker. She handed a stake to Jordan as she put one in her bag. "Why?"  
  
"There was a demon with Martyr," Jordan said. "I just thought it might be easier to kill it if we had a sword or something."  
  
"Demon?" Colleen asked as she grabbed one last stake and a cross out of her locker. "Did it look powerful?"  
  
"Not really," Jordan said as he took the cross from Colleen, "but I'm not sure."  
  
"Well," Colleen said, "A stake to the heart will kill most things."  
  
"You have a point," Jordan agreed. The bell rang and they looked around. They were the only two who were still in the halls.  
  
"So where should we go?" Colleen asked.  
  
"Downstairs," Jordan said.  
  
Colleen nodded. "Let's go."  
  
*****  
  
"How did you know about this place?" Aaron asked Dawn as they went through a door in the back of a maintenance closest into a secret corridor.  
  
"I live with the guy who built the school," Dawn said.  
  
"Of course," Aaron said as they walked down the dimly lit corridor. "You realize this is very creepy. Why would they have this?"  
  
Dawn shrugged. "It connects with a couple other maintenance closets. And there is a supply room back here. Plus we can get down into the basement. I guess it's just so the maintenance people can do their job better or something."  
  
"Still creepy," Aaron said as they got to a door.  
  
"I don't think that they use it yet," Dawn said. The new school was still not 100% complete. Dawn turned the knob of the door but it was locked. "Great."  
  
"Don't worry," Aaron said as he reached into his backpack and got out his lock picks. "I'm always sure to bring these with me know." Aaron got on his knee and went to work on the lock. He had the door open in a minute.  
  
"You're getting better at this," Dawn said as they entered the room and turned on the lights."  
  
"Well I try," Aaron said as he shut the door.  
  
*****  
  
"Over there," Jordan said as he pointed at a door which led into the basement of the school. Colleen and Jordan watched as the knob of the handle turned. Colleen got the sensation she always got when there was a vampire nearby. She waited until the door was being opened and then ran and delivered a hard dropkick to the door. Both Jordan and Colleen could hear the vampire fly back and flip over the landing behind the door.  
  
"Let's go," Colleen said to Jordan as she opened the door and ran in with Jordan right behind her. They looked down they stepped onto the landing and took stock of the situation. There were ten vampires, including Martyr. There was also strange demon that Colleen had no clue what to make of. It was almost human, except that it had a pale yellow skin tone and it was bald. It wore robes, but from what Colleen could tell it didn't look very muscular.  
  
A vampire ran up the stairs towards Colleen and Jordan. Jordan handed Colleen his cross and she stuck it in the vampire's face, holding him at bay. Martyr, as always, looked completely human. His demeanor was cool and he almost seemed happy.  
  
"Why are you here Martyr?" Colleen asked, although she never took her eyes off the vampire in front of her.  
  
"Why am I ever at odds with you slayer?" Martyr shot back.  
  
"You're not getting the book," Colleen said. "And I'm not sure if you realized this or not but it's daylight. I mean, if you really want to get dusted that bad than be my guest, but my suggestion would be for you to just turn around and come back from where you came.  
  
Martyr smiled a little more. "Really?" he asked. "Is that so?" He turned towards the demon and nodded at him. Before Colleen or Jordan could react the door they were standing by opened and they were flung through it and into the hall. They hit the wall hard. Colleen got to her feet and stood in front of Jordan. She quickly realized that she and Jordan were surrounded by the pack of vampires. They were in the middle of a semicircle. Standing right in front of her was Martyr looking even smugger than usually. Right by him was the demon that she guessed pushed them through the door.  
  
"The boy," the demon said. "The one named Aaron. He has the book."  
  
Colleen was shocked. Martyr laughed.  
  
"Don't know your demons slayer?" Martyr asked. "I thought that the council would have drilled you with that kind of knowledge. Just another sign of the continual digression of the education system. This is a Gelaro demon. The purebred version of your mutt of a psychic."  
  
"He has a lot of potential," the Gelaro demon said while looking at Jordan. The two stared at each other. Colleen could tell that there was something going on between them that she couldn't quite sense. The silence continued for another ten seconds before Jordan's nose began to bleed and he fell to his knees. The demon laughed. "Potential isn't everything though. He doesn't know where the book is definitely though. It will only take a few moments for me to sense the boy."  
  
The demon never got a chance to find the book. Right as he got done speaking the Gold Chick appeared from behind him. She quickly grabbed him by the head and twisted so hard that his neck snapped. That's when Colleen and the Gold Chick went to work on the vampires. Between the two of them ten vampires was nothing. Within ten minutes they had most of the vampires dusted. Colleen was grateful that they were fighting in a part of the school that there weren't any classes. She was just starting to get into the fight when she heard a scream.  
  
"Stop right where you are slayer," Martyr said. Colleen turned around to face him. He had Gold Chick by the head, just as she had the Gelaro demon. "Make one move and I'll snap her neck just like she did to the Gelaro."  
  
Colleen didn't know anything about Gold Chick. Sure she had helped them a couple times, but she was never forthcoming about information about herself. She told Jordan that she would just hurt us. Was this what she was talking about? What if she had been working with Martyr the entire time? Why hadn't she had paid closer attention to her during the fight? Was this all just a scheme to get the book? Colleen flashed a look at Jordan. He was still squatting. The Gelaro must have hurt him with whatever he did. The front of his shirt was drenched with blood. But Jordan expression was a mix of emotions. His faced was etched with both concern and rage.  
  
"Now I'll make this very simple for you slayer," He said while still holding Gold Chick by the head. "You give me the book and she lives. If you don't..." He increased the strength by which he was holding Gold Chick. At first she tried to mask the pain it caused her but when the blood began to flow from beneath Martyr's fingers she let out a scream.  
  
"Don't do it!" Gold Chick screamed. "You can't! You can't let him-" Martyr cut her off by moving his hand to cover her mouth. Blood was now covering the side of her face.  
  
"What's your decision slayer?"  
  
*****  
  
"Well this is boring," Aaron said as he and Dawn sat in the empty room watching the clock on the wall count the seconds go by. The room was dim and made Aaron feel slightly uncomfortable. "Terrifying, but still boring."  
  
"Where's that tennis ball when you need it?" Dawn asked. Aaron chuckled a little. It was a nervous chuckle that was meant to just forget about the danger that they were in.  
  
Out of nowhere Aaron put his face in his hands. He looked back up at Dawn and he looked at her through very dazed eyes. Dawn noticed that there was a tear that was going down his eye. He stood up and it was obvious that he was suddenly very dizzy.  
  
"What's wrong?" Dawn said as she rushed over to him and helped him stand. "What's going on?"  
  
"It's Jordan," Aaron said. He blinked a couple times and rubbed his head. "Jordan wants us to go down there with the book. We have to go downstairs." Aaron tried to walk but he was still disoriented.  
  
"What?" Dawn said skeptically. "Are you sure? Did he like, talk in you brain?"  
  
"No," Aaron said. He was starting to fully recover. "It was more like he just shoved a bunch of feelings in my mind. It was kind of jumbled but I'm positive he wants us to go down there with the book."  
  
Dawn was fairly certain that there was something that Aaron wasn't telling her. "What else?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know," Aaron said. "All I know is that he is panicked."  
  
*****  
  
"What is your answer Slayer," Martyr said. "Time is running out."  
  
Colleen began to speak but Jordan interrupted her. "They are coming with the book," he said. Colleen flashed him a surprised book.  
  
"Well at least one of you has some common sense," Martyr said.  
  
Colleen was furious. She was hoping that Jordan had some kind of plan. She hoped that maybe he had gained some kind of insight and that he had thought out a plan. Somehow though, she knew that this wasn't the case.  
  
Aaron and Dawn appeared a few minutes later. They walked through the wall made up of the three remaining vampire and stood by Colleen and Jordan.  
  
"Give me the book," Martyr said to Aaron. Jordan could sense the incredible fear surging through Aaron.  
  
"Let her go first," Colleen said. She was trying to regain control of the situation since Jordan acted without her consent.  
  
"You're not in a bargaining position," Martyr reminded her.  
  
"Here," Dawn said as she took the book from Aaron. She set in on the ground in between Colleen and Martyr.  
  
"Please don't," Gold Chick said quietly.  
  
"Now let her go," Colleen said. She looked at Gold Chick. She stared into her eye and tried to read any sign of betrayal. Unless she was the world's greatest actress, Colleen was fairly certain that the only thing that Gold Chick was feeling right now was that she had just cost them the world.  
  
Martyr very slowly let go of Gold Chick and then pushed her into Colleen. Jordan began to float the book towards him but a vampire suddenly ran over and grabbed the book and made his way to the door.  
  
"No!" Jordan screamed as he tripped the vampire with his mind. Martyr grabbed the book from the vampire and fled through the basement door. Colleen tried to run after him but she was stopped by two of the vampires. She fought them off while Gold Chick tried to go to the door but was interrupted by the third vampire. By the time that they had all three vampires dusted and got into the basement Martyr was gone.  
  
"What did you do that?" Gold Chick said. She was obviously very mad. "You should have let him kill me."  
  
"We couldn't do that," Colleen said although she wasn't entirely sure that was true now.  
  
"I'm going after him," Gold Chick said as she ran into the basement.  
  
"It's pointless," Jordan told her. "He's too far gone."  
  
"Well I don't have a choice now," Gold Chick said. "Now I have to get that book back."  
  
However she didn't go into the basement. Instead she ran off in the opposite direction down the hall and disappeared into a stairwell. Dawn followed as quickly as she could but by the time she got to the stairwell Gold Chick was gone. She jogged back towards the others shaking her head.  
  
"She's gone," Dawn told them.  
  
"This is all my fault," Jordan said. "I thought I could float the book away. I'm sorry. I really thought I could do it. I blew it you guys."  
  
"Well," Aaron said while unzipping it. "It wasn't a total loss."  
  
"What do you mean?" Colleen asked. "How are we going to do the spell without the book? Did you write down the ceremony?"  
  
"Well not exactly," Aaron admitted while he grabbed a couple pages out of his backpack. "But I did manage to rip out a bunch of pages." Aaron waved the pages from the Omicron in front of his friends. 


	8. The Solstice

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen - The new slayer

Jordan - Psychic and receives The Visions

Dawn - Buffy's little sister and The Key

Aaron - Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box

*****

            "Weren't you just here this morning?" Jordan said as he sat on a couple of boxes in the basement of the Magic Box.

            "Yeah," Aaron said as he looked through row after row of strange herbs.

            "So why didn't you just grab it while you were here?"

            "Because Anya was here," Aaron explained.

            "Wait," Jordan said. "We're stealing this stuff?"

            Aaron stopped looking for the herb and paused to just look at Jordan. "What did you think we were doing?"

            "I don't know," Jordan said. "I figured that there was leniency for Armageddon or something."

            "I guess you really don't know Anya then," Aaron said as he kept looking through the herbs. "Here it is." Aaron opened up a jar and took a large scoop of a shining brown powder and put it in a Ziploc bag.

            Jordan felt the vision coming on a second before it happened. He wasn't surprised by what he saw. He was expecting it.

            "They're on the move," Jordan announced.

            "Just in time," Aaron said as he shoved the bag into his backpack. "Let's go."

            "I don't know how I feel about this," Jordan said as he and Aaron walked up the stairs back up to the Magic Box.

            "Don't worry about it," Aaron said. "I'll just overcharge one of those "I'm doing this to rebel from my parents" Wicca for their candles and incense.

*****

            "Did you get it?" Colleen asked Aaron and Jordan when they met up with her and Dawn a block from the school.

            "Yeah we got it," Aaron said.

            "He means we stole it," Jordan said looking towards Dawn.

            "So?" She said with a smile.

            "OK," Colleen said as they started walking towards the school, "Is everyone clear on the plan?"

            "I'm doing my spell," Aaron said as he read through his notes for about the 50th time in the last three days.

            "Dawn and I are going to be with Aaron in case anything happens," Jordan said.

            "And you are going to be on distraction duty," Dawn said. "Pretending to be interrupting their ceremony so they don't come after us."

            "So does anyone think this plan is really going to work?" Jordan asked.

            "You sound like Aaron," Colleen pointed out.

            "Yeah he's covering for me," Aaron said. "I'm way too nervous to be pessimistic right now."

            "It's a good plan," Dawn confirmed. "It's quick and simple. Go in, do a spell, slay some vampires, get home in time for Conan."

            "You don't think Gold Chick did anything stupid do you?" Jordan questioned. "I mean, you don't think she tried to take on Martyr on her on and got herself killed or anything like that."

            "Nah," Colleen said, "She's smarter than that." Colleen was still having some repressed anger for what Jordan did last week with the Omicron, but she had decided that she wasn't going to make an issue of it.

            "I don't know," Dawn said. "She seemed to be getting in full out vengeance mode when we last saw her."

            "I think if she was going to go after Martyr then she would have gone after him then and there," Aaron said.

            "Yeah," Colleen said. "When she would have had the best chance of finding him."

            "But who knows," Dawn said. "We don't even know what she is capable of. Maybe she can track him anywhere. Maybe she just didn't want us stopping her."

            "She was kind of injured," Jordan pointed out. "Maybe she just wanted to heal up first."

            "Listen," Colleen said, "She has made it pretty clear that she doesn't want anything to do with us. She's going to come and go as she pleases so there's no point worrying about her."

            "Well I guess it's good to know how you really feel about me," Gold Chick said from the shadows cast by the school. "It really warms my heart."

            No one knew what to say. Colleen felt really stupid but she knew that this wasn't the time for her to be worrying about whether or not she hurt someone's feelings. Dawn was relieved that now they had someone else with super strength so Colleen wouldn't have to face all the vampires on her own. Jordan was relived that Gold Chick was OK. Aaron was too busy concentrating on the spell to really worry about anything else.

            "I'm here to help," Gold Chick said as she joined the group. "It's because of me that they have the book so I'm not going to let them end the world. It's as simple as that."

            "We could really use your help," Dawn said.

            "Here's the plan," Colleen said. "You and I are going to go downstairs through the basement looking for the entrance to the Hellmouth. Jordan's fairly confident that it's down there. We're going to distract the vampires and hopefully delay their ceremony while Aaron casts a counterspell against their spell."

            "And what are you doing?" Gold Chick asked Dawn and Jordan.

            "We're making sure the ceremony doesn't get interrupted," Jordan explained.

            "Doesn't sound like much of a plan," Gold Chick said.

            "We're hoping that the simplicity will leave fewer factors that could go wrong," Aaron explained. "With this group, anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

            "Way to jinx us," Dawn said as the five of them prepared to enter the school.

*****

            "Time check," Aaron said as he dumped his backpack out on a table in the library.

            "11:45," Dawn told him. "There's a clock right there." Dawn pointed at the wall directly in front of Aaron. Aaron ignored her comment.

            "Plenty of time to set up," Jordan said. "Right?"

            "Yeah," Aaron said while trying to gather up his supplies. "At least I'm pretty sure that it will be enough time."

            "Well that's reassuring," Dawn said.

            "Where are we doing this thin?" Jordan asked.

            "Right over here," Aaron said pointing to the floor in the middle of the library. "It should be the closest spot to the Hellmouth."

            "Unfortunately it's also right in front of the door," Dawn pointed out.

            "Hopefully that won't become an issue," Aaron said. He set up everything he needed for the ceremony. He put six candles around him in a circle. In front of him were the pages he ripped from the Omicron and the notes he made. There was also a bowl right in front of him and several different kinds of liquids and powders.

            "This looks kind of complex," Dawn said while Aaron light the candles around him. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

            "What?" Aaron asked her. "Do you doubt my mad skills?"

            Dawn gave a little laugh. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

            "Same thing I want," Aaron said.

            "T-minus ten minutes and counting," Jordan announced.

*****

            "We only have ten minutes till the ceremony will start," Colleen told Gold Chick as they walked through the basement of the school.

            "I don't see any entrance," Gold Chick said as they began their second lap around the basement of the school.

            "Jordan said they were down here," Colleen said.

            "Could he have been mistaken?" Gold Chick suggested. This bothered Colleen a little. Why should Gold Chick doubt Jordan when he was a big part of the reason that she was still alive?

            "No," Colleen said. "He's usually dead on with things like this."

            "Usually?" Gold Chick said, but then let the subject drop.

            Colleen looked down at her watch. They only had five minutes till midnight and Martyr could start the ceremony. She was starting to get worried, which was leading her to get desperate. That's when she felt it. It was a shiver that crept up her spine. A presence that she couldn't quite explain. It was a feeling that she was starting to get quite accustomed to. It was her slayer sense telling her that vampires were nearby. She stopped for a moment and tried to focus on it. She tried to hone in on where the vampires where exactly. She looked at a wall of the basement that had a lot of boxes.

            "Hey um," Colleen tried to think of something to call Gold Chick other that Gold Chick. "You."

            "You can call me Gold Chick," Gold Chick said. "I don't mind."

            Colleen wondered how she would even know about the Gold Chick nickname but she decided that this wasn't the time. "I think our door is back there."

            Colleen and Gold Chick walked through the boxes and when moving one found a hole in the floor. 

            "Looks like a little bit of a drop," Colleen said as she bent over the hole.

            "I'll let you know after I hit the ground," Gold Chick said and then dropped through the hole.

            Colleen smiled to herself. "I'm starting to like that girl," she said to herself right before she dropped through the hole too.

*****

            "It's time," Dawn said. Everyone was starting to get nervous.

            "I hope Colleen and Gold Chick are OK," Jordan said.

            "Quiet," Aaron said. He started the ritual. "Oh guardians of the gate, followers of the ancient ones, I beckon thee. Here my pleas and answer my calling. Accept the gifts that I offer you and look down upon me with pity. Honor me, for I am most humble." Aaron took one of the powders and sprinkled it into the bowl. He followed that up with pouring a clear liquid onto it which caused a mist to rise from the bowl. Aaron reached in and pinched a different powder and tossed it into the bowl. This caused a small bang and changed the color of the smoke to a crimson color. "Followers of the ancient ones, here my pleas and answer my calling," Aaron repeated.

            For the first time, Dawn noticed the dagger at Aaron side and gave it a curious stare. She wondered how this fit into the ritual.

            Jordan looked at the clock and back down at his watch nervously. He hoped that the others were safe.

*****

            Colleen and Gold Chick walked down the dimly lit corridor together. Every so often there was a torch, but overall it was much to dark to really see. Eventually, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

            "Light," Colleen said as she pointed towards the end of the tunnel.

            "It's almost poetic," Gold Chick said.

            "Here," Colleen said as she handed Gold Chick a stake. "You might need this."

            "Thanks," Gold Chick said, and for the first time noticed the axe in Colleen's hand. "You wouldn't happen to have another one of those by chance would you?"

            Colleen smiled. "Nope, as impressive as they are they don't travel well."

            They finally got to the end of the tunnel. "OK," Colleen said, "Be ready for-" Colleen suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence.

            Gold Chick turned her head to see what stopped her only to face the same thing that took Colleen out. All she saw was the strange cloud of purple dust and then fell to the floor. Her eyes stayed up just long enough for her to see Martyr standing over her laughing.

            "OK boys," Martyr said to four of the vampires standing next to him. "You go upstairs and see where the others are. If these two are here the others can't be too far behind." The vampires ran off through the tunnel. Martyr turned to the remaining three vampires. "You three grab these two. This is going to be fun."

*****

            "I offer you the four pillars of virtue," Aaron said, continuing the ritual. "I offer you the four bloods that you require." Aaron took a bottle filled with red liquid and poured it into the bowl. "The blood of the unknown."

            Dawn was taken a back. She turned to Jordan and whispered "Where did he get that from?"

            "Remember the blood drive a couple days ago?" Jordan whispered back. Dawn looked a little horrified. "It's for a good cause," Jordan defended their actions.

            "The blood of the noble," Aaron said as he added a red crystal into the bowl. Red energy began to encircle the area directly above the bowl. "The blood of the forgotten," Aaron said as he sprinkled some red dust into the bowl. The energy surrounding the bowl expanded so that it encircled Aaron. It sparkled and cracked with power. Aaron seemed to tense a little and reached for the dagger at his side. "The blood of the willing," Aaron said as he cut his own hand and allowed his blood to fall into the bowl. The energy surrounding him immediately regrouped into the bowl and formed a pillar from the bowl to the ceiling. Aaron stuck his bleeding hand into the pillar. "Accept this offering and look down upon us in pity."

            Dawn looked at the pained expression on Aaron's face and it tore her up inside. She would have never let him do this if she would have realized what this spell was really like. She knew the only reason that Aaron had agreed to do this was because he thought he was worthless to the group. Aaron let out a little scream. Dawn attempted to go over and stop him from continuing the ritual but Jordan put out his arm to stop her.

            "Jordan," Dawn said panicked, "He's in pain!"

            "We have bigger problems," Jordan said as he looked over towards the door. "We're about to get company."

*****

            "Wake up," Martyr said as he lightly patted Colleen on the face. He waited for her to wake up before he flashed her a smile and slapped her hard across the face. Colleen was dazed at first but quickly realized what was going on. She looked around the chamber and saw a vampire who was performing a ritual in the center of the cavern. She went to attack Martyr but quickly realized that she couldn't move. She looked over to her left and saw that Gold Chick was in a similar position. Her eyes were panicked.

            "Now," Martyr said as he walked away from the slayer and towards the ceremony, "I've seen a lot of Bond movies and I realize that I should just kill you now, but in a couple minutes your friends are going to be dead and the Hellmouth is going to be open, and I can't resist having you watch that.

            Colleen was horrified. There was nothing that she could do. She tried to move but other than flicking her wrists or moving her head she was trapped. She looked at a small pedestal directly in front of her and there was a vase that was glowing the same purple as the dust that had done this to her. She looked over to the ceremony as it got closer and closer to completing. There were tremors going through the chamber but the chamber itself was not moving.

            Colleen was at her breaking point. She felt pressure behind her eyes but looked up to try to fight the tears. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to give Martyr the satisfaction.

            "Oh no you don't slayer," Martyr said to her, moving her head back so she was watching the ceremony. "You don't want to miss this."

*****

            Jordan and Dawn were quickly piling up furniture in front of the doors to the library. They were trying to barricade it as quickly as possible. Aaron still had his hand in the beam of light. All that was left was to wait out until the energies built up enough to counter the spell that Martyr was casting.

            Jordan and Dawn stepped away to look at their quick work. It wasn't bad. For a second they thought that it just might stop the vampires. But it was only a second. As soon as the vampires tried to open the door it immediately started to move back.

            Jordan ran up to the edge of the barrio and put his hands on it. He closed his eyes and immediately the doors were completely shut. Dawn could see the strain on Jordan's face and knew that he couldn't keep this up for very long.

            "Colleen," Dawn said quietly to herself, "I don't know what's going on but you need to hurry up."

*****

            Colleen even surprised herself with the fact that she hadn't given up. Even though Martyr was across the room admiring the ceremony that was taking place she still hoped that somehow she could get out of this. She hoped that somehow she would just suddenly be too much for the spell to hold and that she would just break free.

            That's when Colleen noticed Gold Chick. She had her head down so that her hair covered her face. Colleen watched as suddenly the gold seemed to fade away and her skin became white. The bright gold of her hair became a pale blonde. Before Martyr could move to stop her, Not-So-Gold Chick ran over to the pedestal, picked up the vase, and smashed it on the floor.

            By the time that Martyr got to Not-So-Gold Chick she was now completely gold again and punched him right in the face. Colleen was at him in a second and kicked him hard right into the vampire that was performing the ceremony. Gold Chick was right about to join in on the fight when Colleen stopped her.

            "No," Colleen said as she hit another vampire in the face and then staked him. "Go help the others." Gold Chick nodded and was immediately running down the corridor.

*****

            Dawn tried to push all of her weight into the barricade.

            "I can't keep this up much longer," Jordan informed her.

            "See if you can give the vamps a push or something," Dawn said. "Maybe that way we can try to get out there and stake them before they know what's going on."

            Jordan nodded and the closed his eyes. Dawn heard noises out in the hall and started moving the furniture when Jordan collapsed. She managed to move the furniture completely out of the way of the door when she realized that there was still a struggle going on outside the door. Curiously, Dawn poked her head through the doors and saw Gold Chick taking on the last two vamps. She turned and dusted one and another was coming at her back. When Gold Chick turned to face her all she saw was the last of her dust and Dawn holding a stake.

            "Thanks," Gold Chick said to Dawn.

            "I was about to say the same thing to you," Dawn told her.

            They turned around and walked back into the library. Jordan was just getting up. They turned and looked at Aaron. Suddenly, the energy pillar went crashing right down through the floor, just as all the candles extinguished themselves. Aaron was in a trance for another few seconds, but soon snapped up on it. He stood up and dusted himself off and that's when he noticed all the furniture and the way that Jordan was supporting himself on Gold Chick.

            "Did I miss something?" Aaron asked.

*****

            Colleen was still fighting Martyr. Every single blow he tried to land on her was blocked and then followed up by a counter attack. Martyr was in game face and was trying his best but on that night he was no match for Colleen. Colleen noticed that the only other vampire in the room, the one that was performing the ceremony, was attempting to complete his ceremony. Martyr tried to punch Colleen in the face but she ducked and threw him into the wall. She walked towards the vampire when suddenly a shower of red energy came pouring down on the vampire. The vampire burst into flames and the energy turned into a liquid which seemed to seep into the ground and the Hellmouth.

            "Shiny," Colleen said she watched the ground flash red once before turning back to normal. "I guess Aaron's spell worked."

            Martyr attempted to sneak up on Colleen but failed as Colleen grabbed him and flipped him over her shoulder. He was on the ground and Colleen grabbed her stake, knelt on him, and held the stake high above her head.

            "It's been real Martyr," Colleen said, "But I think your time just ran out."

            Colleen expected to see horror in Martyr's face but instead he looked satisfied. As she sunk the stake into her hear he whispered to her "you never wondered why the call me Martyr?"

            Colleen watched as he turned into dust but then backed away when the dust seemed to come alive. She backed away and watched as the dust seemed to swirl and collect in a cloud above the Hellmouth. Its speed increased until the point that it burst into flames. The flames were so bright that Colleen had to shield her eyes but when she opened them again she never expected what she saw.

            The demon that stood in front of her was at least eight feet tall. Its skin was red and its veins that protruded from his arms seem to have lava flowing through them. Colleen gathered her strength and attempted to punch the demon but he grabbed her fist. Colleen was at first shocked but that soon changed when she felt the immense heat entering her fist. That's when she dropped to the ground at the demon's feet. She looked up at him just to get kicked so hard that she flew across the chamber and hit a wall hard.

            Colleen coughed and looked up at the demon in fear. "What are you?" she asked between coughs.

            "I am Phoenix," The demon explained. He then picked Colleen up and threw her against another wall. Colleen fell but she quickly tried to get up and attack Phoenix but it was no use. He blocked her attack and again threw her up against a wall. Colleen lay in a heap on the ground but still refused to give up. She tried to stand up again but before she could Gold Chick was running in and pressing her shoulder into Phoenix. She managed to catch him by surprise and ran him into the wall. Jordan was right behind her and looked up at the loose rocks caused by Aaron's spell. He concentrated on them and they soon fell on Phoenix. Aaron and Dawn helped Colleen to her feet as the chamber began to collapse on itself.

            "What," Aaron said as they barely managed to avoid the cave in, "was that?"

*****

Author's Note: I hope there is someone out there who is enjoying this. If you are please leave me some feedback. Let me know what you like and what you don't. Tell me what you think I should change or what I'm doing well. I'd especially like to know what you think of the characters and what direction I'm taking them. Thanks for reading all the same though.


	9. Secrets

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently Exploring Magicks

*****

            "Maybe I should get like a golf bag or something," Jordan said as he walked with Colleen on patrol. "That way I could be like your slay-caddy or something."

            "Too bad all of my weapons would just sit at the bottom of the bag," Colleen said. It had been a very slow night of patrol. They hadn't seen a vampire since they started tonight.

            "At least it would give me a reason to be here," Jordan said. "I mean at first you need a helping hand every once in a while. Now I'm just here for moral support."

            "Are you saying that's a bad thing?" Colleen asked him.

            Jordan thought about it for a moment. "No, I guess it's not."

            "Well there's a vampire right there," Colleen said pointing out the vampire that had just noticed them. "Do you want to take him or do you want me to?"

            "I'll let you handle this one," Jordan said with a smile.

            "Gee," Colleen said as she ran over to the vampire and began to trade blows with him. "Thanks." They fight was definitely one sided. The vampire was newly risen and not even a challenge. Colleen, after playing with him for a little bit, grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground in front of Jordan, who bent over and dusted him with his stake.

            "At least we finally got some action tonight," Colleen said as they started walking again. "I thought tonight was going to be a waste."

            They walked along in silence for a while without really saying much. Colleen knew exactly what she wanted to say to Jordan but didn't know if she really wanted to say it. She knew that she should probably get it off of her chest but for some reason she didn't want to cause a conflict between her and Jordan.

            "Just say it," Jordan said as they kept walking. "I know that there's something on your mind so just tell me."

            "I keep forgetting to think softly," Colleen said with a smile. "Although I guess you can't even really do that."

            "So spill," Jordan said. "What's on your mind?"

            "You don't already know?" Colleen asked.

            "I have an idea," Jordan said. "And if you wanted to I would probably be able to pick your brain and know exactly what it is but I think that might be a little rude."

            "It's just," Colleen started. "That time when you agreed to hand over the Omicron in order to save Gold Chick. I mean, I'm not trying to say that it wasn't without good intentions, but I don't know if it was the smartest move to make."

            Jordan stopped where he was walking. "What are you trying to say? Are you saying that we should have just let Martyr kill Gold Chick?"

            "No," Colleen said. They started walking again. "But, look at it this way. What if they had been working together? What if it was just one big plan between her and Martyr. I mean, we don't really know anything about her."

            "But she wasn't," Jordan said. "We'd all be dead right now if it wasn't for her."

            "But she could have been," Colleen said. "We didn't know then. We had no way to be sure."

            "If Gold Chick was working for Martyr then why would she have helped us back at the museum?" Jordan suggested. "She could have easily just taken the book back then and handed it over to him but instead she risked her life fighting Martyr and stayed up all night making sure that he didn't kill us while the rest of us slept."

            "But still," Colleen continued, "Maybe she was just trying to set us up. Maybe it was all part of some huge plan to gain our trust so she could set us up later down the road."

            "If that was true then why would she refuse to work with us closer?" Jordan shot back. "Why wouldn't she let us take her into the circle so she could get all of our secrets?"

            "Maybe because she didn't want to get too close because maybe then we could trace her back to Martyr," Colleen suggested. "For all we know she's been trying to set us up the whole way to help create Phoenix."

            "Then why did she save you?" Jordan said. "Phoenix could have easily killed but Gold Chick saved you."

            "She saved me a little too easily," Colleen mused. "Did you see the way that she manhandled him? I could barely lay a fist on him and she tossed him like a rag doll."

            "Well maybe she's stronger than you?" Jordan suggested. "Or maybe there was some glitch with his demon physiology that we don't know about. Not that we even know anything about him at all."

            "I just don't get why you are so ready to just blindly trust her," Colleen said.

            "First of all it's not blind trust at all because she has saved our lived," Jordan said. "Second of all, I'm psychic remember? I think I would be able to figure it out if she was planning on betraying us. And I never got a vision about her either. Don't you think The Powers That Be would warn us if there was a danger so close to us?"

            "Now it's my turn to be psychic," Colleen said. "There's something your not telling me isn't there."

            Jordan sighed. "It's just...I don't know how to describe it. I just feel this connection to her. I can't describe it. It's like just this bond that I can feel between us."

            "You don't think it might just be that you have feelings for her?" Colleen offered.

            Jordan shook his head. "I've thought about it but I don't think that's it. I would admit it if it was, but I really don't think that's what it is."

            "Maybe she's controlling you somehow?" Colleen suggested. "Maybe she's psychic too."

            Jordan stopped again. "Why are you pushing this? Why are you trying to make her evil?"

            "I'm not trying to make her out to be evil?" Colleen tried to act shocked, and then attempted to laugh it off. "I think your just being a little too sensitive."

            Jordan looked at her a little strangely. "I know what this is about."

            "It's about a potential evil demon that we've been tolerating," Colleen said.

            Jordan shook his head. "You're pissed because I went over your head. You're just mad because I made the decision and not you."

            "I can't believe you would say that," Colleen said.

            Jordan shook his head slightly again, as if not even really being able to believe it himself. "That is it. You think that you're the leader and that I had no right making that decision because you're the slayer and I'm not."

            Colleen looked frustrated. She didn't want to say it, but she did anyway. Her expression changed as she started to speak. "What if it is true?" She looked sad, disgusted with herself. "It's just, I mean, I get all these super powers. And all of the sudden I go from being anybody to having to save the world? It's just so much. And I'm trying to keep it together and I'm trying to save the world when I only just turned fifteen two weeks ago?"

            "But you're not alone," Jordan told her. "You have me remember? I have to save the world too."

            Colleen shook her head. "You have to tell me what to save. I have to do the saving."

            Jordan looked hurt. "I just tell you what to save? I can't believe you would say that Colleen. After everything that I've done? And what about that spell Aaron did? If it weren't for that then we would be up to our eyes in demons right now. How can you say that it's just you?"

            Now it was Colleen's turn to look hurt. "I...I know what you guys do is important. I'm sorry, it's just this has been an adjustment. I'm just trying to keep everything together, you know? I'm just trying to keep everything in control."

            Jordan had enough. "Well that's just great. You know what, that's fine. You can have it all. You can do it all on your own. That's what you want right?"

            "Jordan" Colleen said as Jordan started to walk off, "wait."

            "No," Jordan said as he continued to walk away. "This is the way you want-" Jordan stopped talking as a vision came over him. He yelled in frustration. "Bad fucking timing!" Jordan yelled at the sky hoping The Powers That Be would hear him.

*****

            "How about this one?" Dawn suggested as she handed Aaron a magick book opened to a page about glamour. Aaron looked at it.

            "It's worth a shot," Aaron said. "It could be good practice." He kept reading. "It looks really easy too."

            Aaron sat cross legged on the floor in front of Dawn as she sat down as well. He concentrated at the task at hand. He then lit a few candles around him and began the spell.

            "Powers around me come within. I summon thee into my vessel. Allow me to appear without as I do within. Allow my will to be done." Aaron finished the spell and opened his eyes. He waited for Dawn to respond.

            "Well?" Aaron said after Dawn didn't answer.

            "What?" Dawn asked in response.

            Aaron sighed. "My eyes," he said as he pointed to his eyes.

            "Oh wow," Dawn said. "They're blue." She thought about it for a little bit. "I liked them better green."

            Aaron looked a little confused. "My eyes are green?"

            Dawn laughed. "Yeah of course. You didn't know what color your eyes were?"

            "Well," Aaron said. "I always thought they were just brownish or something."

            "Guys," Dawn said with a laugh.

*****

            "Are you sure that there's nothing going on?" Colleen said. "I mean are you sure that he's not going to attack or anything?"

            "Yes Colleen," Jordan said. "Believe it or not even those of us who aren't the slayer know how to deal with demons."

            "Jordan," Colleen started, "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to-"

            "Let's just go," Jordan said as he started walking in the direction of a large mansion on the other side of town. "The Powers That Be obviously wanted us to see something here so let's go get it over with."

            Colleen sighed and tried to keep up with Jordan. The Powers That Be had sent him a vision of Phoenix's hideout. Apparently there was something that they needed to see on the bedroom wall of the old mansion that they were going to. They went around back and found a way to climb up to the second story. From there it was easy to break in through a window and make their way to the bedroom in question.

            "Wow," Colleen said in a low whisper. "I can't believe no one lives here."

            "Quiet," Jordan said.

            "I thought you said that there was no one here?" Colleen said.

            "You can never be too careful, remember," Jordan said back to her.

            Colleen decided that she had had enough of this. She grabbed Jordan by the shoulder and swung him around. "Listen Jordan, I'm sorry for thinking the way I did. I was wrong OK. I was wrong and you were right."

            "That's not enough Colleen," Jordan said. "You don't really think that. It's not enough to just say you're sorry. You have to really mean it."

            "I do mean it," Colleen said.

            "Let's just do what we came here to do," Jordan said.

            They entered the bedroom that Jordan had seen in his vision. On the wall was a huge painting. The center of the painting was a sun that was shaped like a compass and there were pictures at the north, south, east, and west. The drawing in the south was of a man being killed by a vampire. At the west was a vampire taking in a spirit. At the north was the vampire dying and the spirit leaving his body. At the east was the spirit opening the Hellmouth.

            "What do you make of this?" Colleen asked.

            "Not sure," Jordan said. He reached out to touch the painting and when he did a purple dust came off the painting and into Colleen and Jordan's faces. There was no time to react. Before they knew it they were both frozen. For a while they could do nothing. They weren't able to talk or to move. It was the same powder that Martyr had used on Colleen and Gold Chick.

            Can you hear me? Jordan said without moving his lips.

            Colleen looked at him. She nodded her head.

            I've only tried this a couple of time, Jordan said into her mind. What are we going to do?

            Colleen tried to move her mouth but she couldn't.

            Try to think 'at me,' Jordan told her.

            Colleen calmed herself down. She focused. We need to find a vase and break it, Colleen thought to him.

            I'll try, Jordan said. I can sense it. It's right behind us against the other wall. I'll just push it off the table. Jordan concentrated but nothing happened. It's no use, he said finally. This spell blocks my telekinesis.

            Can you try to contact Aaron or Dawn? Colleen suggested.

            Jordan shook his head. They're too far away.

            For a while there was silence between the two of them. They were both completely unsure of how they were going to get out of this situation. They stood facing the wall in silence for a good twenty minutes before they talked again.

            I'm sorry I got us into this, Jordan said. I shouldn't have touched the wall.

            You didn't know this would happen, Colleen told him.

            But I still feel guilty, Jordan said.

            One of us would have done it, Colleen told him. It just happened to be you.

            There was more silence.

            I think I figured this thing out, Jordan said. I think this is the story of how Phoenix came about. Look, first Martyr was sired. Then he did a spell or something and took Phoenix inside of him. Then he died and Phoenix was released. Then in this last one I think that's Phoenix opening the Hellmouth.

            I think you're right, Colleen said. And look at the suns. The bottom one is yellow while the top one is black. And the ones on the sides are half black half yellow. I think that is supposed to be the solstices and the equinoxes.

            That makes sense, Jordan said.

            More silence.

            I'm sorry Jordan, Colleen said. And I'm being serious. I was being so superior and I didn't even realize it. You were right.

            I wasn't completely right, Jordan said. I mean, yeah, you were being a control freak, but maybe you're suppose to. You are the slayer.

            But I wouldn't be able to do any of this without you guys, Colleen said. I need to count on you guys more and not think that I'm better than you.

            Just then there was a large crash downstairs. There was a definite sound of a struggle which got louder and louder as it got closer and closer.

            What's going on? Colleen asked.

            I can't tell, Jordan said. It sounds like a fight though.

            Just then, a very beaten and a very bloody Gold Chick entered the room. She ran for the vase behind them and managed to smash it right as Phoenix came in behind her. Gold Chick fell to the floor in pain and Colleen tried to attack Phoenix but it was pointless. That's when Jordan noticed the other pots on the counter where their pot was and came up with a plan. He forced the dust off of the painting and into Phoenix face. Right as the second pot began to glow Phoenix froze in place, his eyes wide with fury.

            "How can we kill him?" Colleen asked as she reached for her stake.

            "No," Gold Chick coughed on the ground, "There's no time. He was out recruiting vampires and they'll be up here in no time."

            She was right. They could already hear the vampires coming up the stairs. Although she didn't want to leave, Colleen picked up Gold Chick and carried her through the window with Jordan right behind them. As they ran from the mansion Gold Chick passed out, and as she did, she became human.

            "Oh my God," Colleen said as she realized who was in her arms.

            "Holly," Jordan said, right as Holly's eyes opened up.


	10. Revelations

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            "Maybe we should try again?" Dawn suggested as her and Colleen were walking back to the locker room after gym to change. "I mean maybe she's ready to talk to us now?"

            Colleen shook her head. "I didn't want to ask her the last time," she said as the walked into the locker room. "When Jordan and I talked to her she said that she would come to us when she was ready."

            "I should have known," Dawn said. "I mean I should have realized that Holly was Gold Chick. When we were playing Ping-Pong the day that Martyr came to the school she got really weird right before it happened. I should have put two and two together."

            "Jordan's even more convinced that he should have known," Colleen said. "He said he always got this weird vibe whenever he was around Holly and he also said he got a weird feeling from Gold Chick. He said they aren't the same feeling but that he should have put two and two together."

            "I wonder how she always knows when we're in trouble." Dawn thought out loud. "Like I wonder if she has The Visions too. Or maybe she's psychic or something like Jordan."

            Dawn and Colleen looked down the row of lockers towards Holly who was changing on the other side of the room. Holly made eye contact with them and Colleen gave her a smile and Dawn gave her a small wave. Holly quickly turned away. Dawn sighed.

            "Don't worry," Colleen said. "I think she'll come to us when she's ready."

*****

            Colleen had started getting into the habit of waiting around by her locker for Mike at the end of the day. He lived not too far from her and they usually walked home together. She waited around a lot longer than usual today. Everyone else in the hall had pretty much already left. Colleen looked down at her watch. Mike was fifteen minutes late. Of course this wasn't a set event or anything. Maybe Mike just left earlier or something.

            "Or maybe he left with another girl," Colleen asked herself as she walked down the hallway.

            "And why would I do that?" Mike asked her as she rounded the corner.

            "Mike?" Colleen said a little surprised. "Where were you? I was waiting for you."

            "I know," Mike said. "I was waiting right here watching you."

            "What?" Colleen said. "Why?"

            "Don't worry," Mike said. "You passed my test."

            "Your test?" Colleen asked skeptically.

            Mike nodded and smiled at her. "I wanted to see if you would wait for me."

            Colleen got annoyed. "That's horrible! I can't believe you did that to me."

            "I just wanted to see if you would wait for me as long as I waited for you," Mike said with another one of his smiles. Colleen wished his perfect teeth didn't have such a powerful mental hold on her. Right before he flashed her his teeth she was getting ready to kick him in the balls. "Last week when you left early I waited for you for fifteen minutes. You beat me though. You gave me twenty."

            "I can't believe you!" Colleen said, although she wasn't really mad at him anymore. "I hate you," she said, but couldn't stop herself from smiling.

            "I hope you really don't mean that," Mike said. "Because I was hoping we could go to the movies tonight."

            Colleen was still trying to pretend that she was mad at Mike. "Well I don't know," Colleen said. "I might have other plans."

            "I'll tell you a secret," Mike said. He then grabbed her by the hips and leaned in close to Colleen so that his mouth was right next to her ear. "I was going to ask if I could be your boyfriend tonight."

            Colleen didn't know what to say to that. Mike just smiled at her and grabbed her hand as he began to walk away. She started following him wants he was a few steps ahead of her.

            "I hope to God I can get the others to cover for me tonight," Colleen thought to herself as she walked home with Mike, still holding hands.

*****

            "I'll call you guys later," Jordan said as he broke off from Aaron and Dawn.

            "Where are you going?" Aaron asked. "That's not where your house is."

            "No," Jordan admitted, "But it's where Holly lives."

            Dawn frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

            Jordan nodded. "I don't think it's a bad idea. I'm just going to see if she wants to talk. I'll come over to Aaron's after I'm done. I'll tell you how it went."

            "OK," Aaron said. "Don't get your hopes up though."

            "I won't," Jordan said. With that he started walking down the street. He looked up Holly's address three days ago but he decided that today was the day that he should try to talk to her. It had been a week since they found out that Holly was Gold Chick. Since then the only thing that she had said to any of them was that she would come to them when she was ready, which was the same thing she said the night they found out.

            Jordan wasn't sure what made him decide it, but he decided that now was the time that Holly would be ready. He was starting to get the feeling that her excuse was nothing more than that. An excuse.

            Jordan reached Holly's house and double checked that he was at the right place. He gathered all his courage but it wasn't enough to ring the doorbell, so instead he used his telekinesis to push the button in. It took a few moments, but soon he found himself face to face with Holly Nils. She frowned at him.

            "What are you doing here?" She asked him.

            "I came to talk," Jordan answered.

            "I told you guys already," Holly started, "I'll come to-"

            Jordan interrupted her. "I'm not buying it. I think you're just trying to make excuses and if we wait till you're ready that when're all going to be dead, whether it's from natural causes or from demon attacks."

            Holly looked at him with a little bit of frustration in her eyes. "Jordan-"

            Jordan interrupted her again. "I just want to talk to you. Can I please come in?"

            "No," Holly said, but then stepped outside. "My mom just got home from work and she's sleeping."

            "Well then would you come for a walk with me?" Jordan asked her. Again she hesitated and looked back at her house. "It'll be really quick," he promised her.

            Holly sighed. "Fine," she said. Jordan smiled and they started talking. "So where are we going?" She asked him.

            "To talk to some friends," Jordan told her with a grin.

*****

            "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Dawn explained. "But if you want to we'd really like to know." Aaron and Dawn, after getting over their surprise to see Holly at Aaron's door, and helped Jordan tell her the story of everything that had happened this year. They wanted to be as open and honest as possible to make sure Holly knew that she could trust them.

            "Well…um," Holly mumbled. "There's a lot to tell. What do you want to know?" Holly looked really nervous. It didn't look like she really wanted to tell them at all. But Holly knew that wasn't entirely true. She knew that deep down that all she has wanted her entire life was to just tell someone. But she would never be able to tell them whole truth.

            "What kind of demon are you?" Aaron asked. "I mean, you are part demon aren't you?"

            "It's called a Sellar Demon," Holly said. She knew she had to keep her emotions in check or else everything would just come pouring out. "My father was a Sellar Demon and my mother is human."

            "What all can you do?" Aaron asked. "What kind of powers does it give you?"

            Holly looked more and more nervous and yet at the same time she was more and more ready to just tell them everything. She just wanted to tell anyone everything. "Basically just super strength. That and the gold skin that makes me pretty invulnerable too."

            "When did you find all this out?" Jordan asked. "Have you known your whole life?"

            "Yeah," Holly said, instantly deciding that she didn't want to tell them everything after all. "I've known pretty much forever."

            Jordan, Aaron, and Dawn all noticed the quick way that she answered that question and the way that she seemed to want to move on. They decided that it would probably be best to respect that and move on.

            "How did you always know where we were and that we needed help?" Jordan asked.

            "I'm not sure," Holly said. "I think it's because of you really."

            "Me?" Jordan asked, a little surprised.

            "Yeah," Holly told him. "I think that maybe I was picking up on the visions that you were talking about. It's like every time that I knew that there was trouble going on it was like I was picking it up from someone else." Holly knew that there was more to the story than that but she didn't know how they would react. She didn't want to know how they would react.

            "Maybe you have The Visions too?" Dawn suggested.

            Holly shook her head. "No," she said. "I don't think that I do. I'm pretty sure I would know if they were my own visions."

            "Holly," Jordan asked. "Do you have any plans for tonight?"

            Holly wasn't expecting this. "Um," she began, "No not really. Why?"

            "Well we were going to go on patrol because Colleen is out with Mike tonight," Jordan explained. Holly's expression changed slightly but it was unnoticeable. "Do you want to come with us? There haven't been any vampires all week but you could see how we work and stuff."

            "It's mostly just ends up being a chance for us to talk and we end up going somewhere to hang out afterwards," Aaron explained.

            "Yeah," Dawn said with a laugh. "We make so much noise that vampires know that we're coming from a mile away."

            "I'm not sure," Holly said.

            "Come on," Aaron said. "It'll be fun."

            "Well," Holly said, thinking it over in her head. "I guess."

*****

            What was it about Mike that whenever Colleen was with him that everything in the world just seemed to be perfect. Every single time that Colleen had gone out with Mike had seemed like the whole world had just fallen away and that the only thing that mattered anymore was just being together.

And now Mike wanted her to be his girlfriend. For any other girl in the world this could be the most perfect night of their lives. Colleen even let herself believe that everything would be great once they were officially together. But then reality sunk in. But then Colleen realized that she's not like every other girl on the planet.

If Colleen and Mike became official, then there would be much more commitment. Mike had understood when Colleen would have to flake when they were just casually dating. But what would happen if they were together? She wouldn't just be able to not show up or not call and get away with it. She had secrets that she had to keep. She wished that she could tell him her secrets, but she knew that she couldn't. Besides, what if he didn't understand? What if it turned him away from her if he knew?

"Penny for you thoughts," Mike said as he looked into Colleen's eyes. They were on the dance floor dancing to a perfect slow song.

"Do you have about a thousand pennies on you?" Colleen asked as she moved closer to him.

"No," Mike said. "But I have terrific credit."

Colleen smiled. "It's nothing," she lied. "I was just thinking about girl stuff." That was a horrible lie.

"Or were you thinking about what I said earlier?" Mike questioned her.

Colleen's face froze for a little bit "Yes," she admitted.

"You know I am serious right?" Mike said. "I would be the luckiest guy in the world if we were together."

Colleen had to laugh a little. "You would be the lucky one? You have an odd definition of lucky."

Mike softly grabbed Colleen by the chin and moved her face so she was looking up at him. He spoke just as softly as he held her and said "You are the most incredible girl that I have ever met in my entire life."

And that's when it happened. It was the moment that Colleen had imagined all of her life. Sure when she first imagined it happening it had been Larry Byrd but this was even more amazing then she had ever expected. It was her first kiss. It was her first kiss and it was with the most popular boy in school. For the first time since she had been with Mike she wasn't hoping that there would be girls watching her and jealous of her. She wanted this moment to just be for her.

When it was over, Colleen opened her eyes just to see Mike staring into hers. Colleen smiled and held Mike's body close to her own. She never wanted this moment to end. Mike leaned over to kiss her again and she felt a tingle go throughout her body. In the middle of the kiss she realized what the tingle was.

She opened her eyes and looked around, not breaking her kiss. She saw him out of the corner of her eye. He looked like he just stepped out of the 80's. He was taking some girl out into the alley with him. Although it killed her to do it she ended the kiss.

"Wait right here," she told Mike. "I'll be right back." Before Mike had a chance to argue Colleen was jogging to the table were she set her purse down, grabbed a stake from out of it and ran out into the alley.

"It's times like this that I wish I could stake them twice," Colleen said as the door shut behind her.

*****

            "Well this had been a dead night for the undead," Aaron said as the finished walking through their third cemetery. "Kind of ironic if you think about it."

            "So who's up for a little Bronze action?" Dawn said clapping her hands. "Maybe get a chance to embarrass Colleen in front of her new boyfriend."

            "What?" Aaron asked. "Mike and Colleen are official?"

            Dawn nodded with a huge grin. "Yep."

            "Well that's just terrific," Aaron said. "Thanks for telling the rest of us. I'm going to go give her a piece of my mind."

            Dawn, Aaron, and Jordan started walking in the direction of the Bronze but quickly stopped when they realized that Holly wasn't following them.

            "Come one," Jordan said offering a smile. "It's kind of a tradition. And plus it'll give you a chance to talk to Colleen."

            "And it's a good way to just hang out," Dawn pointed out.

            "No thanks," Holly said. "Thank you very much for the offer but…no…"

            With that Holly was off in the direction of her house. Jordan started to go off after her but Dawn grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.

            "We have to take this slow," Dawn said. "Tonight was good. We shouldn't ruin it."

            Jordan nodded and watched Holly until she was out of sight.

            "Come on," Aaron said as he started moving quickly in the direction of the Bronze. "We're going to miss our chance to ruin Colleen's perfect night."

*****

            "Of all the nerve!" Colleen said as she punched the vampire in the back of the head while he was getting ready to bite the girl on the throat. She grabbed him by the back and threw him into a group of trash cans. "You can leave now," Colleen told the girl. "I'll handle this." The girl looked at the vampire and then back to Colleen. She ran away without another word.

            "A 'thank you' would have been nice," Colleen said to herself as she went back to the vampire. She picked him up again and threw him into a dumpster. As the vampire stood back up Colleen gave him a couple quick punches to the face.

            "I would like to draw this out," Colleen said as she threw the vampire once again. "But I really don't have the time. Trust me," she said as she pulled out her stake, "You got off easy tonight." She stuck the stake through the very confused vampire's heart. As the vampire turned into dust Colleen stood up, dusted herself off, and turned around to go back into the Bronze.

            "Mike," Colleen said both surprised and horrified when she saw him standing in the alley holding her purse. By the expression on his face there was no trying to kid herself that Mike hadn't seen what had just happened.

            "Was that a," Mike said very slowly, trying to pick his words carefully, "vampire?"

            "Damnit," Aaron said as he, Jordan, and Dawn entered the alley from the Bronze. "I knew we were going to miss our chance."

            "Yeah," Colleen said. "Maybe we should go back inside."

            "And you kill vampires?" Mike said, taking a few steps towards her.

            "Mike," Colleen began. "I'm sorry but-"

            "I knew there was something special about you," Mike said as he once again leaned over and kissed Colleen.

            Jordan wasn't sure how to react. Dawn felt herself smile.

            "Well that was unexpected," Aaron said with a puzzled look on his face.

*****

Author's Note: Tell me what you think. I always appreciate feedback.


	11. The Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            The night was being spent as it was usually spent lately. The calendar on the wall was counting down the days until the Vernal Equinox. There was only three days left. Aaron's notes on the Omicron provided very little information on what would happen on that day. He hoped it was that way because there wasn't any information given. He didn't want to think about the possibility that maybe he missed it. He had tried so hard not to be worthless. He didn't want his quest to result in the destruction of the entire world.

            Dawn searched through yet another book. When she was younger she wanted nothing more than to be a Scooby. She wanted to do the research and fight the demons and be just like her sister. She would have never admitted that though. Sometimes she regrets that she never told Buffy how much she admired her. She hoped that she knew now. She hoped that both Buffy and Mom were watching her right now and being proud of her.

            Jordan wondered how Colleen and Holly were doing on patrol. He hoped that everything was going well. He thought that maybe the more that Holly fought with them that she would want to join the group. He hoped that she would see that they want to be her friend and they weren't just trying to treat her as an ally. He knew that's the way that she felt. He knew that she thought that she was willing to fight be their side but that she didn't want to be their friend. Jordan knew that for some reason that she was afraid of becoming their friend but he didn't know why.

            "Can you hand me that book on your left Jordan?" Aaron asked as he shut the book he was looking through. Jordan reached over and handed him the book.

            "Has anyone had any luck?" Dawn questioned. Aaron and Jordan shook their heads.

            "Want to try flipping out?" Aaron asked Jordan. "It worked last time." Jordan smiled. Once when they were trying to do research to discover the location of the Omicron Jordan had lost his temper and that somehow allowed him to telekinetically open a book to the exact page that they needed.

            "I think that was a one time only deal," Jordan said. "Besides, with the Omicron I at least had some kind of insight on. With Phoenix I'm completely in the dark."

            "Maybe if I could find any kind of documentation of him I could try to find a spell that would reverse his creation or something," Aaron said.

            "Do you really think you could do that?" Jordan asked.

            Aaron shrugged. "I could try at least."

            "Oh wait!" Dawn said getting really excited. "I think I might have found something. It's in Latin but I think that says Phoenix. Doesn't that say Phoenix?"

            Dawn handed the book over to Aaron. Aaron had been studying Latin since he became an Alter Boy in fifth grade. "No," Aaron said after a quick glance. "That's firebird. Believe it or not there's a difference."

            Dawn looked frustrated. "We're going to run out of time," she said. "We've been researching this guy for months and we have nothing. We have gone through every single book in the Magic Box."

            "Did that guy ever email you back?" Jordan asked Dawn.

            "Yeah," Dawn said talking about the email she got back from Giles. "He doesn't know anything about this guy but he said that he's going to do some research and get back to me."

            The three friends went back to their research. They had been sitting in Aaron's bedroom reading books for the last four hours. Colleen had been helping but then she had to go meet up with Holly to patrol. At midnight the grandfather clock in the living room began to go off. Right at the last sound Jordan suddenly got a vision.

*****

            Holly got kicked in the stomach hard by a vampire. She was in her gold form so she could take it. That didn't mean that there wasn't pain though. Holly recovered on her hands and knees as the vampire ran towards. She held her hands together as one fist and right as the vampire was in range she swung and hit him in the jaw. It was only a matter of moments before she could get a stake and dust him.

            "Nice move," Colleen said as she offered Holly a hand while she was on the ground. "The fist thing."

            Holly looked at Colleen's hand and then up to Colleen. She smiled at her and returned to her normal form.

            "Thanks," she said as she took her hand. _Make her feel vulnerable. Maker her feel like an outcast. Make her feel dependant. Holly pulled back her hand and stood up._

            Colleen looked at her as if she might have done something to offend her. "I'm sorry," Colleen said. "Are you OK?"

            "Yeah," Holly said quickly looking away and starting down the path in front of her. "I'm fine. Come on, let's keep going."

            Colleen seemed very trouble as she stood up. "Yeah," she said as she jogged to catch up. "Let's get moving."

*****

            "A book?" Aaron asked. "OK, but we're getting Colleen this time."

            "What's this book?" Dawn asked Jordan. He had just got done explaining a book that he saw in someone's private collection. "Is Phoenix coming after it?"

            Jordan shook his head. "No I don't think so. I think this vision was trying to answer our question. I think The Powers That Be are trying to give us the information that we need."

            "Do you have any idea where this book is at?" Aaron asked. "Or should we not get out of research mode so fast?"

            "Yeah I know where this one is at," Jordan said. "It's on the edge of town. It's a house on the edge of a graveyard."

            "A graveyard?" Aaron questioned. "Yeah, this sounds like it's going to be a grand old time."

            "Come on," Dawn said as she tossed Aaron his jacket. "If we hurry we might be able to catch up with Colleen and Holly before they call it a night."

            Aaron sighed as he zipped up his jacket. "Why do I have the feeling this evening just took a turn for the worse?"

            "Think positive," Jordan said as they walked out of Aaron's bedroom making their way out of the apartment.

            "Fine," Aaron said as they reached the front door. "I'm happy that my parents are out of town and won't be able to ground me for a month again."

            "That's the spirit," Dawn said while Aaron locked the door on their way out.

*****

            "Clandestine rendezvous," Aaron said as him, Dawn, and Jordan got to the meeting spot that they phoned in to Colleen and Holly.

            "The street light in front of the Double Meat Palace," Colleen said. "Very clandestine." She turned to Jordan. "So where are we going?"

            "You remember the cemetery with the old white house on the east side of it?" Jordan asked Colleen.

            "Yeah," Colleen said. "I have the cemeteries memorized at this point." She paused and thought about that for a moment. "I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing."

            "How far is it?" Aaron asked.

            "It's a couple blocks over," Colleen said.

            "I knew it was around here but I wasn't sure where exactly," Jordan admitted.

            The five freshmen walked through the dark streets of Sunnydale towards St. Joseph's cemetery. They made the small talk that they usually made when they were out doing stuff like this. Jordan noticed how quiet Holly was being. He tried to talk to her and to get her to join in on the conversation but it wasn't really going anywhere.

            "That's the place?" Dawn asked as the approached the while house on the edge of the cemetery. It looked old and deserted.

            "Yeah," Jordan confirmed.

            "Why would there be a private collection in there?" Aaron asked. "It doesn't look like anyone lives there."

            "Maybe no one 'lives' there at all," Holly spoke up for the first time in a while.

            "I knew this wasn't going to be a good night," Aaron said.

            "Are you getting any vampire vibes?" Dawn asked Colleen.

            Colleen looked at the house for a little bit trying to hone in on it. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "Maybe."

            "What's the plan?" Aaron asked. "How are we going to do this?"

            "Two teams," Colleen said. "That way we have a better chance of finding the book. Jordan's the only person who's seen the book and Aaron would probably be the only other person who would have a chance of realizing if a text was important or not. Jordan and I will start at the top and work our way down and you guys start in the basement and work your way up."

            "What do we do if we run into trouble?" Dawn asked.

            "It's a house," Aaron said. "If we scream there's a good chance that someone will hear us."

*****

            "The door's locked," Holly said as her, Aaron, and Dawn tried entering in through the back door.

            Aaron cracked his knuckles. "Looks like once again I-"

            Holly shifted into her gold form and kicked the door in before Aaron got a chance to even pull out his lock picks.  Dawn passed him on her way into the house.

            "Looks like new girl just stole your thunder," Dawn said.

            "Looks like the basement is this way," Holly said as she opened a door in the kitchen. Everything in the house made it look like no one had lived there for a very long time.

            Aaron unzipped his backpack. "I only have two flashlights," Aaron said. Holly and Dawn looked back at him. He handed them both over. "Fine."

            Holly didn't take the flashlight. "I don't need it."

            Aaron and Dawn turned on the flashlights and started looking around. The basement was a series of small rooms. Each time they got to a door Holly would open it and be the first person in the new room. They got through the entire library without seeing a single vampire.

            "Or a single book," Dawn pointed while they walked up the stairs to the main level.

            "Hopefully we'll have better luck up here," Holly said once they were in the kitchen.

*****

            "I hate attics," Colleen said. "They're always so old, you know. It's like where everything in the house goes to die."

            "I used to love my attic," Jordan said. "In my old house that is. I used to spend all my time up there playing with G.I. Joes. It was my own personal war."

            "You don't seem like the G.I. Joe kind of kid," Colleen said.

            "Every kid boy is a G.I. Joe kind of kid," Jordan said. "This is a waste of time. It's definitely not up here."

            "Down we go," Colleen said as they left the attic.

*****

            "So this was good for a whole lot of nothing," Aaron said.

            "I haven't seen a single book in this place," Holly pointed out.

            "You know," Dawn said as they finished looking going through the last room on the main level. "When Jordan got that vision I was excited. I thought that it would be a nice change of pace from the last couple nights of nonstop research."

            That's when the seven vampires entered through the front door in the room right next to the room they were in. From the sounds of it, an equally large number of vampires was entering through the back door.

            "I guess this is the part where we scream," Aaron said.

            "You know you don't always have to make a sarcastic comment," Dawn told him.

*****

            "Here it is," Jordan said as him and Dawn entered a bedroom on the second floor. "This is the room." Jordan walked over to a bookshelf and grabbed the specific book that they needed.

            "You sure that's it?" Colleen asked him.

            Jordan flipped through the book. "Yeah I'm positive. This is it."

            "Maybe we should get Aaron up here," Colleen wondered. "Maybe there are some magick books that could be useful to him."

            "Worth a shot," Jordan said as he shut the book and started to walk out of the room.

            Colleen followed him out of the room. "This was easy enough."

*****

            Holly did her best to block the doorway into the room they were in by fighting any vampire that tried to get through but that plan was definitely not going to work.

            "Where are Colleen and Jordan?" Dawn asked in a panicked voice.

            Dawn and Aaron looked up when they heard a loud noise above them only to see a large hole opening in the ceiling. Colleen jumped down while Jordan lowered himself first and then dropped. Colleen tried to help Holly keep the vampires at bay but with 15 on 2 it wasn't looking that promising.

            Aaron and Dawn turned to the wall on the other side of the room when they heard banging against it.

            "Do you think that wall will hold?" Dawn said as first one fist and then another came through the wall.

            "It would be stupid to say yes now," Aaron answered her question.

            "We need to get out of here," Dawn said.

            "Good plan," Jordan told her. He pointed at a window and soon it was blown out. "Colleen! Holly! Let's go!" Jordan, Aaron, and Dawn were running and then jumping out the window. They were quickly followed by Colleen and Holly. Surprisingly, the vampires didn't give them much of a chase.

            "OK," Dawn said between taking deep breaths. "How do a dozen vampires just come out of nowhere?"

            "Those were some of the same vampires that were at Phoenix's mansion," Holly said.

            "Do you think that he sent them after us?" Jordan wondered.

            Aaron shook his head. "No. I think they live there. They must have just saw our lights and tried to ambush us."

            "How do you know they live there?" Colleen asked.

            "I'm not positive," Aaron began, "But the way the basement was set up it looked like it might have been living quarters."

            "The windows," Dawn said as she just realized it. "I thought they looked weird but now I realize why. They were blacked out."

            "I did notice that," Colleen said thinking back.

            "Hey guys," Jordan said, "I think this answers our question." He showed them a page that he opened to in the book that they took from the house. On the page was the same drawing that was on the wall of Phoenix's mansion. On the bottom of the page was written "I am the Martyr."

*****

Author's Note: Coming up next is the conclusion to Sunnydale: A New Beginning. Tell me what you think.


	12. The Storm

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            When Colleen was asked by her kindergarten teacher to draw a picture of her dream she drew a picture of a girl being killed by a vampire. She never understood why her teacher made her go talk to Dr. Campbell. She never understood why her parents gave her a long talk when she got home. And she never understood why her teacher never hung the drawing up with the other students' drawings. The next time her teacher asked her to draw her dreams Colleen drew a princess riding a unicorn which seemed to make everyone happy.

            Colleen never told anyone that the dream of the girl being killed by the vampire never went away. She never told anyone that it wasn't just one dream but many different dreams and in each one she was a different girl from a different time. Even when she did start to dream about playing in the WNBA she still had the dreams with the vampires.

            Six months ago everything changed. Six months ago Colleen was told that she was Colleen, the Vampire Slayer. Everything just became so clear that day. The dreams that she was having suddenly made so much sense. She was glad that this wasn't a burden that she would have to carry on her own. She had Dawn, Aaron, and Jordan. Recently she gained Holly as a powerful ally and one day hopefully also as a friend. She has Mike now too.

            When Colleen began to become close to Mike her worse fear was that one day he would find out the truth about her. Her worse fear ended up being a dream come true. Mike was completely supportive of her and understood the importance of what she was doing. What's more, she could talk to Mike about things that she didn't want to bring up with the others. She could talk to him about fears that she was having that she would never tell the others.

            "Well I think you can take him," Mike told Colleen.

            "We have fought exactly one time," Colleen explained to Mike. "I couldn't even touch him because it burnt so much."

            "Well then bring a fire extinguisher," Mike said. Colleen had no way to no for sure over the phone but she knew that he was smiling the smile that always got to her.

            "I guess that is an option," Colleen told him.

            "Couldn't you get back up or something?" Mike asked her.

            Mike knew about Dawn, Aaron, and Jordan but Colleen had never told him about Holly. She decided that it wasn't her place since Holly wasn't technically part of the group.

            "Well Aaron's going to be doing the spell that we found in that book," she told Mike. "And Jordan and Dawn will be there."

            From the book that they had managed to steal from Martyr's old hideout Aaron had found the way that they could defeat Phoenix. It was a fairly powerful spell that could only be cast by whoever sealed the Hellmouth, which meant that it had to be Aaron. The problem was at the same time Phoenix would be trying to kill Aaron in order to open the Hellmouth. There was a one hour window of opportunity and the only options that were possible were either that Aaron would be killed and soon after the world would follow or Phoenix would be destroyed.

            "I've concluded something," Mike told Colleen.

            "And what's that?" Colleen asked him back. She liked the way that he would change the subject whenever it got too dark.

            "I'm going to help too," Mike informed her.

            "What?" Colleen said as she felt her heart drop. "No, you can't."

            "Why?" Mike asked. "Dawn and Aaron don't have any powers and they still help."

            "Aaron knows magick," Colleen said to him. "And Dawn has grown up knowing about demons."

            "But still they don't have any powers and they still find a way to help you," Mike told her.

            "You are not going to help," Colleen told him. "I'm serious. You're not going to be there."

            "Why not?" Mike asked her. "I went on patrol with you those times. Just give me an axe or something and I'll be fine."

            "I don't want you to get hurt," Colleen told him.

            "But you don't care if your friends get hurt?" Mike asked her back.

            "That's different," Colleen said. "We're in this together."

            "So then why can't I be in it too?" Mike asked her.

            Colleen was starting to get frustrated. "Because, if you ever got hurt it would be my fault and no one else's."

            "Actually," Mike retorted, "It would be however hurts me fault."

            Colleen looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was 12:30. "I have to go to bed. It's going to be a long night tomorrow."

            "Then I guess we'll finish this conversation tomorrow," Mike said.

            "The conversation is already finished," Colleen told him. "Good night."

            "Good night," Mike said as he hung up the phone. "And it's definitely not over."

*****

            "Are you saying that I should have told him that it's perfectly OK that he should want to kill himself?" Colleen asked Dawn first period the next day.

            "No I agree that you made the right choice," Dawn told Colleen. "I'm just saying that I know how he feels. You know, to know about all this but to not be able to help."

            "He would just end up putting himself in danger," Colleen said. "And that would mean that I would have to rescue him. It would put the mission in jeopardy!"

            Dawn laughed. "You sound like my sister's ex-boyfriend."

            "There's too many ways that this plan can go wrong already," Colleen said. "And right now my whole concern is trying to make sure that Aaron doesn't die. Throwing Mike into the mix will just be too much."

            Dawn nodded. She wondered if Aaron had known just how serious the risks of casting the spell on the Hellmouth were when he first cast the spell. He hadn't told her about the exact specifics of the spell so Dawn had no reason to doubt that he didn't try to keep this from her too.

            "Come on," Colleen said. "Let's go talk to Holly. See if she has any concerns about tonight."

            Holly, as she usually was, was sitting in the bleachers of the gym during P.E. However today she wasn't reading a book. She was mostly just staring at the other end of the gym and looked very deep in thought. She didn't notice Colleen and Dawn till they were right next to her.

            "Thinking about tonight?" Colleen asked.

            Holly nodded. "Yeah," was all she said.

            "Are you OK?" Dawn asked.

            Holly nodded. "How is Aaron doing?"

            "Surprisingly he hasn't been complaining," Dawn said. "And I don't know how well you know Aaron but that is very surprising."

            "Hey Colleen," Mike said as he approached her slowly. For the first time Dawn noticed the way that Mike tried not to look in Holly's direction. Holly completely looked down when Mike got close to her. "Can I talk to you?"

            "If it's about what you asked last night the answer is still no," Colleen told him flatly.

            "It's not," Mike said to her.

            "OK," Colleen said as she walked off with him.

            Dawn waited till they left before she talked to Holly. "Did something happen between you and Mike?" Dawn asked.

            Holly looked uncomfortable. "We used to know each other when we were younger." She paused for a moment as if to consider what to say. "It's just awkward now, you know? Like if you stop talking to someone for so long that you don't really know what to say to them."

            "Yeah I know what you mean," Dawn said not entirely believing what Holly told her.

            "That jerk," Colleen said when she came back. "He lied. He was trying to tag along with us tonight still."

            "Wait," Holly said. "He knows that you're the slayer? He knows what we're doing tonight."

            "Yeah," Colleen said. "He found out a few weeks ago." Colleen noticed the panicked look in Holly's eyes. "I haven't told him anything about you though. I wouldn't violate your trust like that."

            "I just really don't like people knowing about it," Holly said. "That I'm a demon."

            "Part demon," Dawn pointed out. "You have a soul. Besides, what you are doesn't dictate who you are."

            "I still wouldn't want people to know," Holly said quietly.

            "I know what you mean," Colleen said to her. "You don't see me walking around with a t-shirt that says 'slayer.'"

*****

            "I hate painting," Aaron said as he got back from the supply table with some green paint. "I hate paints." He poured out a little bit of the paint onto his palette. "I hate brushes." He walked to the supply table and returned the paint and walked back to his easel. "And most of all I hate art class." Aaron dipped his brush in his paint and then flicked the paint onto his canvas.

            "Looks good," Mike said as he walked over to Aaron's easel.

            "Thanks," Aaron said. "I call it flicking various colors of paint at a canvas so I don't think about the fact that an insanely powerful demon is going to try to kill me tonight at midnight."

            "I hope that's just a working title," Mike said.

            "Yeah," Aaron said looking over the painting, "It'll probably end up being called like 'Velvet Sunset' or something."

            "So tonight's the big night, right?" Mike asked.

            Aaron nodded. "Oh really? I hadn't thought about it. Much. In the last two milliseconds. OK that was a lie."

            "I take it your nervous?" Mike asked Aaron.

            "I try to think of it less as being nervous and more as being sane," Aaron said.

            "So where is all this going down at?" Mike asked nonchalantly.

            "Right above the Hellmouth," Aaron told him.

            "Where is that?" Mike asked.

            "You don't know?" Aaron asked him. Mike shook his head. "It's right below the library."

            "Really?" Mike asked with interest.

*****

            "I am not going to let him know how scared I am," Dawn resolved as she walked into Aaron's apartment. His parents were still out of town. She was positive that this was bad because Aaron would worry about ever seeing them again if something happened. "I am going to be brave for him." Dawn knocked on Aaron's bedroom door.

            "Come in," Aaron called form his room. Dawn walked him and saw him sitting crossed legged on his bed meditating. He kept his eyes closed so Dawn sat down on his floor waiting for him to finish.

            "I saw you peek," Dawn laughed and threw the tennis ball that was on the ground beside her at Aaron. He opened his eyes and caught the ball. "Nice reflexes."

            "Thanks," Aaron said as he sat down the ball.

            "Getting ready for tonight?" Dawn asked him.

            Aaron nodded. "Yeah. I'm trying to get focused."

            "Is this spell a lot harder than the other one?" Dawn asked him.

            "Yeah a little," Aaron said. "It shouldn't be as draining but there is the added pitfall of having an uber-powerful demon trying to kill me this time."

            "But Colleen and Holly will be there," Dawn said. "And you'll have Jordan and me for moral support."

            Aaron tried to take all of the fun out of his face. "Dawn, how often am I not kidding around?"

            "Recently or as a whole?" Dawn asked him.

            "No," Aaron said. His face was humorous. "I'm being serious."

            "What is it?" Dawn asked him.

            "I don't want you to be there tonight," Aaron told her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

            "Why is everyone trying to make everyone else's decision about what they are doing tonight," Dawn said. "There is no way that I am not going."

            "No seriously I think," Aaron realized what Dawn said. "Wait, who else is trying to make up someone else's mind?"

            "Mike wanted to come help out tonight but Colleen told him no," Dawn told Aaron.

            "He was talking about it with me today," Aaron told Dawn.

            "I think he really wants to be there for Colleen," Dawn explained. "It's really sweet. Crazy, but sweet."

            "Then why don't you just walk away?" Aaron asked her. "No one will say anything about it."

            Dawn looked at Aaron very intensely. She was doing it to be mean but just so he would know that she meant what she was about to say. "Mike is trying to come into the group when we're about to go do something incredibly dangerous. I have been here since day one. There is no way I wouldn't go."

            "It was worth a shot," Aaron said.

            "Besides," Dawn said. "I am a better fighter than you are."

            Aaron laughed. If Aaron was going to be dieing tonight he was glad that he was spending time with Dawn. He wasn't sure how he felt about Dawn. He knew he cared about her a lot, but he wasn't sure if it went beyond friendship or not. Besides that, he had no clue how Dawn felt about him. He reached over into his desk drawer and pulled out two envelopes.

            "Here," Aaron said as he tossed the envelopes to Dawn.

            "What are these?" She asked.

            "They're letters," Aaron said. "I need you to make sure they get read by the people that need to read them if something happens to me."

            "Aaron, nothing is-" Dawn was interrupted by Aaron.

            "Just promise me that they will get read," Aaron said. "Promise me."

            "I promise," Dawn said.

            Aaron smiled. "Good," he said as he grabbed his backpack. "Then let's go."

            Aaron walked out of the door first. Dawn looked down at the two white envelopes in her hand. The one on top had "Mom and Dad" written on it. She looked at the one beneath it and smiled. It read "Dawn."

*****

            "Well," Aaron said while he began setting up once again upon the library floor. "Ten minutes till midnight and I'm still not dead."

            Jordan helped him set up his supplies. He hadn't really talked to Aaron about all the things that Jordan knew Aaron was feeling and he knew that he had missed his chance.  He wasn't going to let this night go on though without saying something.

            "Did I ever tell you thank you?" Jordan asked Aaron.

            "For what?" Aaron asked while he finished setting up for his ceremony.

            "For helping me become everything that I am now," Jordan told him.

            "You don't seem that much different to me," Aaron said.

            "I am," Jordan told him. "Trust me I am. Before I moved here I was so afraid to just be myself and I always felt like I had to keep everything in. I know that a lot of it was me but you helped too. You're my closest friend."

            Aaron smiled. "I feel like I should hug you right now but what with the lotus position and all."

            Jordan laughed a little. "I just felt I had to say it."

            "Yeah in case I die," Aaron sad with a sad smile. Jordan started to say something but Aaron stopped him. "Not that I want to or anything and not that I'm not going to try like hell not to."

            "You're not going to die Aaron," Jordan said. "I promise."

            At that moment the lights died. All the power in the school was shut down. The clock stopped with three minutes left before midnight. Holly and Colleen stood vigilantly on either side of Aaron. Dawn and Jordan hung back a little bit. Aaron's breathing was getting faster and faster. Holly shifted into her demon form the second that Dawn's wrist watch beeped for midnight.

            "As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west so do I wish to complete the cycle," Aaron began when vampires began to pour into the room from the in front of and behind him. He continued the ceremony even as the fighting started. "Seconds pass and turn into minutes and from minutes into hours," Aaron continued while trying to annunciate all of his words despite his fear.

            There were about 18 vampires against Colleen, Holly, Jordan, and Dawn. It was definitely not looking like it was going to be a fair fight.

            "Secret weapon Dawn," Colleen said to her as she dusted a vampire but got punched by another. "Now!"

            "Right," Dawn said as her and Jordan each lit the top of the torches they were carrying. They ran in opposite directions in crowds of vampires who weren't paying attention. In the cramped space of the library the vampires were close to each other and when one caught on fire the vampires surrounding them were also quickly caught on fire.

            "Too bad this didn't work when we tried this on their lair," Dawn said reflecting on their failed attempt to burn the vampires in the house on the edge of the cemetery. Jordan took his torch and lit the circle of white powder that surrounded Aaron. Aaron was too busy concentrating on his spell to even notice the mystical flames that were now protecting him.

            "Hey," Colleen said as she managed to stake another vampire. There were only about three left at this point. "We might actually pull this off." Colleen wasn't looking when Phoenix came from behind her and swatted her across the room. She hit the stacks hard but she got up on her feet as soon as she fell.

            Holly tried her best to fight Phoenix by herself. She was training with Colleen and had learned to fight a little better. She dodged Phoenix's attacks but she wasn't going to keep it up for long. She kept up with though long enough for Colleen to come back into the fight with a sword that she had burrowed from the Magic Box. As they were fighting against Phoenix Holly secretly hoped that Aaron would hurry up.

            Holly was the next to go down from a powerful blow from Phoenix. Colleen turned to see if Holly was alright and when she did Phoenix would up to hit her even harder. Dawn snuck up on him and sunk an axe into his back. While it did stop him from attacking Colleen it didn't seem like it hurt Phoenix as much as it annoyed him. He pulled the axe from his back and while he was preparing to turn to strike Dawn, Colleen sunk her sword into his chest. She held onto the sword with all her might and Phoenix sneered at her. Soon though, the sword became burning to the touch and Colleen had to let go. Phoenix batted her away and did the same to Dawn. He smiled as he approached Aaron.

            "That wasn't too difficult," Phoenix said as he held the sword above his head. Aaron just continued to chant even though his eyes were locked with Phoenix. As Phoenix moved to step across the flame a red barrier suddenly appeared and violently forced Phoenix across the room.

            "A barrier spell," Phoenix commented. "So you didn't just skim through that book." Aaron didn't react. He just continued his chant. "Too bad it won't protect you from this." Phoenix picked up a chair and hurled it at Aaron. Aaron came close to missing a beat on his chant but didn't when the chair suddenly altered its trajectory must unnaturally. Aaron looked to Jordan thankfully.

            Phoenix followed Aaron's gaze to see where Jordan was standing. Moving the chair at the speed it was traveling at had really fazed Jordan. Phoenix took advantage of that by hurling a chair at Jordan which connected and left him unconscious.

            "Now let's try that again," Phoenix said, this time picking up the entire table. Before he could throw it though Holly was on him and took the table in her hand forcing it to the ground. She landed a few punches but before she knew it she was across the room again. Phoenix smiled and picked the table up again.

            No one was sure where he came from, but at that moment Mike appeared out of his hiding spot in the library, ran to Phoenix, and sunk his axe into Phoenix's knee. Phoenix stumbled on his leg for a moment and Mike took the axe and tried to hit him again but Phoenix blocked him and gave him a blow that left him on the ground.

            "You can mess with me," Colleen said as she hit Phoenix hard enough to knock him off balance. "You can even mess with my friends." She said as she hit him again. "But never touch my boyfriend again." Colleen kicked him with everything that she had within her. He stumbled back but quickly recovered.

            Right as Phoenix was about to hit Colleen time seemed to slow down and all the sound drained from the room. The flames around Aaron died down and his eyes flickered red once as the spell completed. Phoenix looked towards him with horror as he seemed to deflate. In a moment and with a flare of red energy he shrunk from about eight feet to almost six feet at the same time reducing his strength and the heat of his skin.

            "I think things just got a whole lot more even," Colleen said as she sunk into him with a melee attack. Every time he tried to hit her she was ready with a block. When he finally did manage to hit her Holly was right there to back him up. Together, Holly and Colleen knocked Phoenix hard on his back.

            "Colleen!" Dawn shouted as she threw her the sword.

            Colleen caught the sword, twirled it around her wrist so she didn't drop it, and stood over Phoenix pointing the sword at his heart. "Goodbye Phoenix," Colleen said as she sunk the sword into his chest. His eyes flew open and a moment later he erupted into flame. There was nothing left, not even any ashes.

            Holly helped Aaron stand up. His stance was wobbly and he looked very drained. Dawn helped Jordan to his feet and he rubbed his head. Colleen checked on Mike. She turned him over and he opened his eyes.

            "That was incredibly stupid," she told him as she kissed him on the lips.

            "Remind me to never be stupid again," Mike said.

            "Someone should do that for me too," Aaron said as he attempted to walk without Holly's support.

            "Come on," Colleen said as she picked Mike up. "Let's go get you home."

            "Wait," Aaron said as they left the library. "Aren't we going to have some post Armageddon fun?"

            "Later," Colleen said. "Right now I need to make sure that he doesn't die. Call my cell."

            "How are you going to leave like that?" Aaron asked as Colleen left. "Call my cell."

            Jordan began to walk on his own as well. The four of them looked at the severe damage caused to the library. Aaron clapped his hands. "Who wants to go get something to eat?"

*****

Author's Note: So that's it. Think of it as the season finale. That's season though, not series. Check out my next fic in the Sunnydale series called Sunnydale: Secrets Better Left Untold. As you can tell it's going to have a lot to do with secrets that the characters have. Chapter one should be posted by the end of the week. Please leave me feedback if you read this story. Tell me if you liked it or hated it. Thanks again for reading.


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